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NOTE. — William de Garrick is a nom de plume. 
The author uses it for the first time. He has had 
several books in England and America, and is 
known to the reading public. His purpose in giving 
THE KING’S COMING to the world under a new 
name is to place the work on its own merits, and to 
avoid influencing popularity or criticisms for it by 
anything he has previously written. 




iSS^'-tv- -■* '• . . - V • ’: , • -^ 'I 

.. ;h ’ V' V: 




“Not now; wait yet awhile” 






‘TT/ie Kings Coming 

A STORY OF THE HAPPY END 


BY 

WILLIAM DE CARRICK 


Frontispiece 
By J. E. Brown 


New York 

THE SHERWOOD COMPANY 

MCMXIX 


COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY 
THE SHERWOOD COMPANY 


THE FUTURE 


"7/ I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand 
forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer 
not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'* 

(Ps. 137: 5-6.) 


For, lo, the days are hastening on, 
By prophet bards foretold. 

When with the ever-circling years 
Comes round the age of gold ; 

When peace shall over all the earth 
Its ancient splendors fling. 

And the whole world give back the song 
Which now the angels sing.^’ 


















TABLE OF CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 






page 

I. 

Her Mission 





11 

II. 

Intrigue .... 





26 

III. 

The Start .... 





43 

IV. 

The Aides’ Scheme . 





59 

V. 

Triumph .... 





74 

VI. 

A Dark and Close Corner 





92 

VII. 

Humanity .... 





106 

VIII. 

The Void .... 





116 

IX. 

“Human Interest” 





126 

X. 

“Pestilence and Famine” 





139 

XI. 

“Calm Springtime” . 





148 

XII. 

“Opposition” 





160 

XIII. 

“Israel” .... 





177 

XIV. 

“Truth” .... 





183 

XV. 

“Brummell’s Woman” 





197 

XVI. 

“The Alhambria” 





214 

XVII. 

Three Days” . 





240 

XVIII. 

“All the Americas” 





261 

XIX. 

“One of the Twelve” 





265 

XX. 

“The Plague” . 





291 

XXI 

“Forty Days and Forty Nights” 




305 

XXII. 

“Conviction and Strength” 





316 

XXIII. 

“The Spirit of the West” 





325 

XXIV. 

“Israel’s Election” . 





333 

XXV. 

“The Far East” . 





340 

XXVI. 

“A Letter” .... 





369 

XXVII. 

“Reincarnation” 





381 

XXVIII. 

“Information, Opinion, Advice” 




386 

XXIX. 

“Dedication of the Temple” 





405 

XXX. 

“His Coming” . 





412 

XXXI. 

Stoddard’s Plans 





417 

XXXII. 

The Model .... 





425 



I 

9 


' V 

« . 

I / ■ 

f. 

I , 

V ’ . 










‘^he King's Coming 


CHAPTER I 

HER MISSION 

HATEAU MONSTOIR quivered 



from roof to basement. Across the 


vale against Beau le Due hilltop 
burst a half-ton shell with terrific detonation! 

“They come! they come!” cried the aged 
Baron d’Estanger huskily, glancing quickly 
at the grave, white faces about the breakfast 
table. 

For a brief three seconds there was fearful 
stillness. A thrush on the windowsill sounded 
a subdued note of alarm and listened. Mimi’s 
kitten toyed with a sunbeam that strayed 
through the lattice. 

Then boomed the reply, shaking the earth 
and filling the air with a rude, grating echo ! 

“It’s the end!” shouted Marie d’Estanger, 


12 THE KING’S COMING 


as the family group, excited and trembling, 
sprang to their feet. “It’s the beginning of 
the end ! ” she concluded with abated breath. 

The old Frenchman looked into the face of 
his beautiful daughter of twenty years, and 
was surprised at the expression and concern 
that flushed her delicate features. 

“We go, child,” he said hoarsely. 

“No, Pere, I stay ” 

“Oh ! Marie ! then you and I ” 

“Yes, yes, I stay. Perhaps my mission has 
come.” 

Marie’s mother seized her and dragged her 
away. The household ran screaming, search- 
ing for wraps and personal belongings. 

“We must all go, Marie,” said her mother 
firmly, for she well knew Marie’s conviction 
that one day the Voices would send her on 
a mission. 

“No, no, ma cherie,” answered Marie, 
gently freeing herself from her mother’s 
grasp. “ I stay. My Voices have told me to 
stay and wait.” 

“Marie, please ” 

“No, I cannot. Yonder cannon announces 


HER MISSION 13 


the beginning- of the regeneration of Europe 
and the changing and cleansing of the world. 
I stay, and await my Lord’s ” 

A howitzer’s missile of ten hundredweight 
tore a wide gap through the ivy-clad chateau ! 
Out of the fog of plaster dust, mother and 
three daughters emerged, panic-stricken — 
except Marie, who walked calmly to the 
center of the garden and surveyed the 
horizon ! 

Mother and sisters and servants ran to the 
upper road on the mountain, believing Marie 
to be with them. But when they looked back 
down the steep incline and saw her still bare- 
headed in the garden, they turned to bring 
her away by force, when an avalanche of 
fleeing refugees swept them onward and away 
forever ! 

Then Marie perceived her gray-haired 
father standing far out on the highest battle- 
ment of the ancient chateau, waving a rusty 
sword of 1870, and shouting to the advancing 
column of baggy-trousered soldiers: "Vwe 
la France! *’ 

Multitudes of spiked Helmets forged for- 


14 THE KING’S COMING 


ward from the other side to attack. Already, 
at close range, long double lines of thin bluish 
blazes shot from rifle muzzles. From the 
highest ground above the valley, hundreds of 
monster guns, mortars, and howitzers belched 
tons of steel and explosives, which ripped up 
trees and dug caverns in the hills. In the 
deadly undertone was the sputtering, metallic 
rattle of machine guns, foe answering foe and 
mowing down the young manhood of 
nations ! 

The Great World War was on, and all 
along the borders of France and Belgium that 
sunny summer morning, civilization and 
Christianity, insulted and cast aside, beheld 
the opening onslaught of the Armageddon of 
accumulated centuries. The old r%ime had 
begun to pass. 

Undaunted, the Baron on the housetop and 
the tender girl, in fluttering white frock, in 
the garden, stood and gazed on the spectacle 
of astounding horror and enormity. 

Flames darted from the dormer windows, 
enveloping the feet of the aged man with 
wreaths of black smoke, but still the rusty 


HER MISSION 15 


saber directed the charge of the defenders of 
Liberty. His deep, stentorian voice sounded 
orders to the lancers and gunners. 

Then a whizzing gleam in the sunlight, and 
a deafening explosion. Chateau Monstoir, 
struck squarely by a ponderous shell, crumbled 
in ruins. Marie saw the mangled form of her 
brave father thrown fifty feet in mid-air and 
shredded into atoms ! 

But, pale and overwrought, with tears 
streaming, she took up his role, crying: 

“Vive la Libert ef’ 

Immediately a ten-ton boulder from the 
overhanging bluff scoured an ugly path 
through the garden ; crushing shrubs and 
roses at her very feet. The wind of its pass- 
ing, threw her in a heap into a hole in the 
dense hedge. 

Amazed and stunned, the lone girl looked 
out to see the French beginning to retreat and 
swarms of stalwart, stolid, dirt-begrimed 
Germans, clambering over the garden wall — 
they were Von Kluck’s hordes, pushing, 
shoving, shouting, crowding, mashing, and 
blasting their way towards Paris ! 


16 


THE KING’S COMING 


Marie shuddered. Crouching close to the 
earth, she clutched the knotted hedge roots, 
hardly daring to breathe. Twice the heavy, 
hobnailed boots of giant Bavarians tread on 
her skirts. She could hear the soldiers’ deep 
breathing as they stumbled and ran under iron 
orders of the dominant autocracy at Potsdam. 

All day and far into the starless night, the 
weary tramp, tramp continued. Distant firing 
became more and more muffled, but the rum- 
bling, sickening roll of death was no less 
terrible. Marie lay cramped and cold, not 
quite out of the enemy’s path, for now and 
again a straggler stumbled over her aching 
limbs. "^Then from sheer exhaustion she 
slept. 

Morning poured a golden flood over the 
rifts and craters in plain and hilltop as though 
there had not been a human, steel-armed 
tornado yesterday. Marie d’Estanger crawled 
to the open and rubbed stiff joints that she 
might stand. Memory came slowly as she 
gazed upon the wreckage of war. The wake 
mounted skyward in jagged, blood-stained 
piles of earth and rocks, and between dipped 


HER MISSION 


17 


dark abysses that yawned for half burnt 
bodies of horses and severed trunks of men, 

Marie lifted up her hands to heaven, say- 
ing aloud : 

“Thy will, Lord. Here I wait for my 
mission.” 

The Chateau Monstoir lay before her, 
scattered and strewn about the garden, ex- 
cept the basement. It had been the seat of 
her forefathers for seven generations. In the 
time of the early wars, its site of four acres, 
in low depression, surrounded by irregular, 
steep, thickly wooded hills, had been selected 
for secluded safety for the women and chil- 
dren. Scarcely approachable, except by a 
hidden roadway, after the cavalcade of whole- 
sale destruction had passed, no man would 
care to descend to the four-acre plot. Even 
a mountain goat, looking down from a pro- 
jecting crag, might hesitate to attempt the 
perilous trip below. 

Nevertheless, Marie would stay on to wait 
for her bidding. She dried her tears and 
walked slowly through the garden to her Re- 
treat for Prayer. 


18 THE KING’S COMING 


Its bower of vines, tangled with red ram- 
blers, had not been injured. There, since 
childhood, she had come daily to pray and be 
instructed and soothed by the Voices. There 
was the spring, too, still spared to bubble up, 
clear and sparkling, and run off in a laughing 
streamlet to the fishpond. And lo ! there were 
also her two pet white doves, fluttering to her 
outstretched hands. 

“Oh, Peter and John! You here with poor 
Marie!” 

She kissed each little head, and hurried into 
the Retreat to pray. 

There she knelt long under the canopy of 
green, petitioning God with great fervor to 
enlarge her faith to abide His Will. As ever 
before, she experienced the same comforting 
presence, and believed the Voices whispered: 
“Not now; wait yet awhile.” 

Her patient, trusting spirit was thus re- 
freshed. She made the sign of the cross, and 
came forth in the sunlight to brave alone her 
vigil and be ready for His Call. With one 
perfectly shaped hand, she shielded her eyes, 
and gazed longingly towards the way whither 

ll 


HER MISSION 19 


her mother had gone. This look was dimmed 
by tears and ended in a vacant stare. Gradu- 
ally her eyes wandered over the havoc wrought 
upon the landscape of the rugged green hills, 
and she sobbed as she turned away to go to 
the shattered chateau. 

In her sorrow and sadness, there was not 
the slightest trace of dismay. She had been 
bred of the same stern stuff that caused the 
old Baron, her father, to stand on the battle- 
ment, and die leading the legions to fight for 
Liberty. And there was her mission yet to 
come. So she stifled her sobs, and faced about 
as a brave soldier on parade. 

The borders of France could not boast of 
a more beautiful girl than Marie d’Estanger. 
She was of medium height, plump and healthy, 
and formed like the fair goddesses of ancient 
Greece. She stood firmly in her tiny slippers. 
Her fine, sensitively curved mouth, with the 
merest suggestion of sadness, was exquisitely 
sweet. The world and its manifold beauties 
and contradictions came to her through soft 
brown, loving eyes that seemed to behold 
heavenly things only — but here, again, her 


20 THE KING’S COMING 


conviction of having a mission in life, adapted 
those wonderful eyes for womanly power. 
A wealth of raven hair hung flowing about 
her shoulders. Her face was oval and perfect, 
in artistic contour, as if modeled by the great 
sculptors of the Virgin Mary. There was about 
her a refined grace and splendor that made her 
both queen and angel wherever she might go, 
— and God had fashioned her for a real pur- 
pose. 

From early childhood, this pretty, wonder- 
fully endowed Marie d’Estanger declared she 
had come into the world on a special mission 
for Christ. No one could persuade her out of 
this idee fixe. Her father wished to educate 
her with her sisters, in Paris. They went, but 
Marie had a governess and a master at Cha- 
teau Monstoir. No girl was better educated 
or better read than Marie; yet of the outside 
world, from personal contact, she knew 
nothing. 

And she stayed on -at the razed chateau 
throughout the horrible World War. Frag- 
ments of armies came and went on the plains 
above, but no wanderer drew near. In the 


HER MISSION 21 


basement of the ruins, the vast family stores 
escaped destruction. With these, and fruits 
from the garden, and such as she raised by 
tilling the soil, she managed to live entirely 
alone for years, except for the two snow-white 
doves. She and the doves were still there 
when the final battles of conquest were fought. 
And once more, in those last days, while Marie 
prayed in the Retreat, fusillades of shell rained 
over the hills and some fell into the garden. 

However, regardless of the battalions of 
weather-stained, battered veterans, scurrying 
over the wild, bomb-plowed plateau above, she 
prayed on at the close of day. Darkness 
shrouded her about, but she prayed on with 
increased zeal. While she thus remained 
steadfast in supplication, there was opened a 
curtain, as it were, in the mist, and there 
appeared a holy Vision. Marie was not afraid. 
She looked on in calm wonder and rejoiced 
that the hour of her instruction had come. 

An angel of light, whose countenance 
seemed to smile out of the throne of heaven, 
and whose raiment glowed with gems of Para- 


22 THE KINGS COMING 


disc, advanced from the holy cortege, and 
said 

“You are Marie, descended from the family 
of Joan of Arc?” 

“Yes, yes!” 

“And verily you have heard and believed 
your Voices?” 

“Yes,” she said again, and her face caught 
the filmy radiance of the Vision. 

Then proclaimed the angel of the sacred 
company : 

“You, Marie d’Estanger, are the Messenger 
of Christ to the peoples of the earth. You 
shall go forth quickly and prepare the way. 
Lo, His Second Coming is at hand. He will 
appear now to judge the living and the dead, 
and separate the gold from the dross. The 
Great World War, just ending, is the sign of 
the Beginning of Sorrows referred to on the 
Mount of Olives. 

“Recall, Marie, the true record by St. 
Matthew : 

“ ‘And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, 
the disciples came unto him privately, saying: 
tell us, when shall these things be? And what 


HER MISSION 


23 


shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the 
end of the world? 

'And Jesus answered and said unto them: 

'Take heed that no man deceive you, , , , 

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of 
wars. , , , 

'And all these things must come to pass. 

. . , For nation shall rise against nation, and 
kingdom against kingdom; and there shall 
be famines and pestilenceis, and earthquakes 
in divers places. All these are the beginning 
of sorrows, 

'And the Son of Man shall come in his 
glory, and all the holy angels, then shall He 
sit upon His Throne of Glory, And before 
him shall be gathered all nations; and he 
shall separate them one from another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats? '' 
And Marie, her face ablaze with gladness, 
was impatient to speak, and cried, falling at 
the angel’s feet : 

‘I know it ! I know it. How well do I know 
it! I believe! Oh, I believe! St. Luke has 
also written of how He will come again in 
glory : 

'"And there shall be signs in the sun, and 
in the moon, and in the stars: and upon the 
earth distress of nations, with perplexity; 
the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts 
failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming upon the earth 
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 


24 THE KING’S COMING 

I 

‘And then shall they see The Son of Man 
coming in a cloud with power and great 
glory.’ ” 

The chief angel of the holy Vision then 
commanded Marie to stand and receive the 
blessings from the Most High God. 

Afterward he said : 

“You are the Messenger before His Com- 
ing. Over yonder hill, three just men draw 
near. These you may choose for your aides, 
but Jesus sends you only. Speak with them 
and permit them to follow you.” 

Marie stood expecting more, but the Vision 
dimmed and no light was discernible. She 
came out into the night, filled with the sanctity 
of what she had seen and heard. 

Three holy and just men did approach the 
dale. But German, French and American 
shells were not respectors of God or man, and 
as the group would have descended, two of 
these steel monstrosities exploded at their feet, 
killing them at once. 

There also came to the brow of the ridge 
three other men who were wise and powerful, 
but dark and evil in their ways. They looked 


HER MISSION 25 


behind them furtively, as if being chased. 
Regardless of the dangerous declivity ahead, 
they destroyed some papers, and ran pell-mell 
down to the tumbled chateau to seek a hiding 
place. 


CHAPTER II 


INTRIGUE 

D O ONE followed the fugitives. In 
fact, they were not being chased, and 
might have come into Monstoir gar- 
den like orderly gentlemen, instead of rushing 
in, breathless and wild-eyed. Their pursuers 
mistook the destruction of the three just men 
for a well-deserved death for three escaped 
rogues, and turned back glad to have been 
relieved of a most unpleasant task. 

“I guess we’re safe in this Garden of Eden,” 
said the largest man, throwing off his cares 
with a full-chested “Phew!” 

The other two glanced around at the neat- 
ness of things and shrugged their shoulders. 

A round moon glided from behind a cloud 
and filled the basin with soft light. 

"Ah! Messieurs, vous voilaT exclaimed 
Marie, coming out joyfully to receive her 
supposed aides. 


INTRIGUE 27 


“Wee, Madmasell!” replied the big man 
with amused emphasis. 

“Ah!” English!” cried Marie in that lan- 
guage, and came closer to the wayfarers who, 
now amazed at finding a beautiful young 
woman, neatly attired in white, were standing 
in a row with hats in hand. 

“Nope, Miss; I’m American; that short guy 
is English; and this big, stocky devil is a 
Jew.” 

“Three nationalities, come in the name of 
the Almighty God to be my aides.” 

The American cleared his throat. 

“I knew you were coming. An angel just 
now told me, and I was waiting — I heard 
you coming down the side there, but the moon 
was not out then and I could not see.” 

“Thank God !” said the Englishman, intend- 
ing the remark as a bit of dry wit. 

“The poor child is clean off, Ike,” said the 
American aside to the Jew. 

“And your names, gentlemen, may I have 
the honor?” 

The American stammered an apology, cast 


28 


THE KING'S COMING 


s 


aside his slang, for he was — had been a uni- 
versity man, — and bowing low, said : 

“Miss Miss ” 

“Marie d’Estanger I’m sorry, sir.” 

“Miss d’Estanger, this gentleman is an 
Englishman and his name is Delwynn Stod- 
dard. This is Isaac Eppstein, and my name is 
Joseph Bolinbroke,” 

The three had not heard their real names 
for so long that the calling of them sounded 
like an accusation from a ghost. 

Marie bowed herself, expressing her thanks, 
and kneeling down in the silvery moonlight, 
prayed aloud to God, in clear, musical tones of 
joy, telling Him how grateful she was for the 
three aides He had sent. Then, one by one, 
she called their names, and begged God to bless 
them and give each of them special grace and 
strength of character to uphold her arm in her 
journeys. 

The Jew coughed repeatedly; the English- 
man had much trouble with his nose; and the 
American had lost some valuable — and did not 
remember whether he put it in trouser pockets, 
coat pockets, waistcoat, or the lining of his hat 


INTRIGUE 29 


— for he searched all thoroughly without 
success. 

Marie sprang up lightly, brushed back from 
her brow the silken locks that fluttered play- 
fully in the night breeze, and said ; 

“Come, Aides, — ^you must be hungry. Im- 
mediately the angel told me of your coming, I 
hastened to prepare the best dinner my lean 
stores admit.” 

She took Eppstein and Stoddard by their 
hands and led them away. “Come, Mr. Bolin- 
broke,” she called, and the tall, dumbfounded 
American walked along after his late partners 
in crime. 

“My chateau is not what it was, as you can 
easily see,” she chatted on. “It has been a 
grand home of the d’Estangers for seven gen- 
erations, but at the beginning of the war, it 
was leveled in a battle fought on the Heights — 
we being between fire here. Since then I have 
lived on alone in the basement rooms spared 
me, with food, to tarry until God came to-night 
to appoint my mission — and for you, my Aides, 
to come.” 


30 THE KING’S COMING 


“Did you say you have been here alone all 
these years of the war ?” 

“Yes, Aide Bolinbroke. My mother and 
sisters and the servants were swept away 
with the refugees. My father was killed while 
standing on the highest battlement of this 
chateau, leading the armies of France as he 
imagined.” 

She led them through a low passage to the 
rooms within. These were large, well fur- 
nished, and well kept. Many lighted candles 
made the place cozy. In one of the center 
rooms, their dinner was spread, as they could 
see from the wash chamber, where she had 
provided them with water, soap and towels. 

Marie busied herself making sure that she 
had done her best in everything. 

“The world is full of variety,” said Epp- 
stein, in a whisper, while they dusted their 
clothes and endeavored to make themselves 
look presentable. 

“Humph !” grunted Bolinbroke, “weVe 
struck it this time. Tell me, how are we going 
to get away?” 

“My dear chap, I don’t want to get away — 


INTRIGUE 


31 


I don’t. Chuck this? I’m not. I’m jolly glad 
I’m here. ’Gad, I’ll wager there’s any amount 
of Madeira in this blooming chateau — cham- 
pagne, too, no doubt! I say, old chap, where 
would you go?” 

“Broadway!” exclaimed Bolinbroke, with a 
sigh. 

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind to be at the Ritz, in 
London, to-night — if you awsk me, but what’s 
the good of it ?” 

“Out with it!” said Bolinbroke, chuckling 
good-humoredly as Isaac stammered : 

“If you’d awsk me. I’d— I’d ” 

The Jew’s face beamed. He continued: 

“I’d like to have that trunk of money, over 
the hill, converted into Uncle Sam’s currency, 
and be ensconced in my club, in Brooklyn, with 
a big Havana cigar.” 

The three emitted hearty “he, he’s!” and 
poked each other’s ribs. 

These men were products that come out of 
every war — brilliant, gifted, adventurous 
outlaws. Bolinbroke had at first followed the 
German army for salvage, then changed when 
America came into the strife. Stoddard was 


32 


THE KING'S COMING 


anything and everything. The Jew could not 
be explained by any sort of gymnastics of 
analogy, theory, sociology or racial tenden- 
cies. Wars, misfortunes and crimes make 
strange bedfellows. Anyway these three were 
well-suited partners. They had made, what 
Americans call “a team.” In one way and 
another, they had a curious fortune “collected” 
and stored away in divers places. They also 
had many scores to be squared from New 
York to Constantinople. At least three gov- 
ernments were looking for them. But they 
were clever, shrewd, finely educated men with 
good family histories back of them, and they 
had never been caught. In a way, they pos- 
sessed many interesting traits. 

“Dinner is served, gentlemen,” Alarie 
called from the next hall, along which she had 
run with springy step. “Oh, you play!” she 
added, pleased, as she saw Bolinbroke give 
Eppstein a jab in the stomach. I was afraid 
my Aides were tired.” 

“We have not come so far,” explained Bol- 
inbroke. 

“Only quickly,” injected Stoddard. 


INTRIGUE 


33 


“Yes, down the hill,” went on Marie, cheer- 
ily; “I’m glad, then, for you will be able to 
listen to much I have to say.” 

Eppstein nudged his partners. 

The table was round. Three plates were 
arranged so that Marie could command direct 
attention of her guests. A large candle chan- 
delier above, filled with two score fresh lights, 
and many side candles about the room, shed 
a brilliancy of illumination that was but little 
short of the electric extravagance of a Paris 
salon. The men stood at the places indicated, 
staring in awed wonder at their beautiful 
hostess. 

Marie’s inquiring look at them was 
steady and frank, but she got a detailed pic- 
ture of each. Their ages all ranged between 
thirty and thirty-five. Bolinbroke was the 
eldest. He stood erect, as easy and precise 
as an Austrian officer. His stature was over 
six feet, and his fine body was broad, lithe 
and athletic. No man could present a more 
intelligent, open face. Clear, large blue eyes, 
big firm mouth, face strong and clean-shaven, 
head full of brains and covered with rich curly 


34 THE KING'S COMING 


brown hair, solidly set on his shoulders. Few 
courts in the world would have separated him 
from the sheep as a goat. Eppstein was a typi- 
cal high-grade Jew of large physique. No 
further description is necessary. As for how 
and why he was there, against the practices of 
his race, he could not tell. Many times within 
the past fortnight he had said to himself: 
“Isaac, you must be mad!” The Englishman 
was a short, spare-made blond with closely 
cropped mustache, gray eyes, perfect white 
teeth, florid round face, neat mouth and nose, 
big bullet head, lots of sense, jovial, nervy, 
brisk in speech and movement; a gambler, a 
man generous by nature, and mean from 
necessity, a sportsman, a crack shot, a horse- 
man unexcelled, a gentleman of education and 
refinement — a scapegrace, for any man who 
would have wasted his talents when England 
needed them, deserved hanging, — a capital 
entertainer, good business man, and a man 
with a history that gave him an excuse. 

Strange companions were Bolinbroke, Epp- 
stein and Stoddard. But within each was 
something good. 


INTRIGUE 


35 


Marie d’Estanger presided well at the 
frugal meal. There was plenty for all, how- 
ever, and good wine. Coffee had long since 
given out, but at the finish she brought the 
Havana cigars for which Eppstein had wished. 
She knew only how her father had lived and 
entertained his guests. 

While the three renegades sat back and be- 
came fascinated by her fresh, virginal beauty, 
Marie filled to the brim with her mission, 
began to speak. 

At the outset, the strange men felt uncom- 
fortable. What was this queenly girl talking 
about, anyway? Mad? No ; she was far from 
it. Soon, however, they were leaning on the 
table and their cigars had gone out. 

Marie brought the Scriptures, and with the 
book before her, expounded its truths. 

She read and quoted excerpts. “There is 
nothing added in what I am saying: it is not 
new. Blind and willful humanity has but re- 
fused to comprehend its plain, direct language, 
preferring to garble the Last Judgment into 
some mythical figure of an event in allegori- 
cal future that could never come into the cycle 


36 THE KING^S COMING 


of the earth. Christ came first in simple, 
humble spirit to teach men the way of life — 
to plant the seed. He must come again as a 
mighty husbandman and king. Why not? 
What doctrine, or dogma, does it upset to 
expect Him to keep His promises as given to 
His disciples in Matthew, Mark and Luke?” 

Fired to the depths of her soul, she carried 
them breathlessly through all the details of 
her communings with the Voices. She told 
them face to face of the Vision that had come 
to her early in the evening, and how the Angel 
had appointed her mission upon earth. 

“I am the Messenger of Christ,” she de- 
clared with holy enthusiasm, “and you are my 
Aides. God has called me to announce His 
Second Coming. I have been given the power 
to heal men’s souls and bodies — if they believe. 
Permission was given me to select you to ac- 
company me, and God turned you in to me. 
You are my Aides, and in the sacred name of 
Jesus, you shall labor with me.” 

Easily she let herself down from the ecstatic 
state of religious fervor, and chatted naturally 
with them a few minutes before retiring. 


INTRIGUE 


37 


“Oh ! your cigars are quite gone out. Light 
them again. 

“I must sleep now. It is my custom to be 
regular. Come into the next room — there you 
may smoke and talk as long as you like. That 
is the way my father, Baron d’Estanger, al- 
ways treated his friends. You will find in the 
great black case liquors and brandy, if you like 
some.” 

No words came to the men of the world. 
“Yes” and “No” were as difficult paragraphs 
to them while Marie held them under her 
spell. 

She knelt down in the middle of the room 
before them, and prayed as though Christ 
were a physical reality in the low chamber. 
Her requests for blessings on the men were so 
simple and direct that they winced and looked 
about shuddering. 

“Good-night,” she said, and vanished like a 
fairy. 

Bolinbroke closed the door and lit his cigar. 
Two other matches whirred, and all were silent 
for five minutes. 

“I’m going to get out of this !” 


38 THE KING’S COMING 


“Don’t be profane, Stoddard,” said Bolin- 
broke seriously when Stoddard started to 
swear. “It isn’t decent after what we’ve 
heard.” 

“Do you believe it?” asked Eppstein 
eagerly. 

“No; not a bit of it. That’s another 
thing.” 

Stoddard was doggedly but quietly search- 
ing about the room. 

“What’re you doing?” demanded Bolin- 
broke. 

“Looking for my hat !” replied the English- 
man. 

Bolinbroke laughed uproariously, and Epp- 
stein giggled. 

“You poor fool! The Messenger took our 
hats when we came in — they’re doubtless in 
her room. Come ! sit down. I’ll look after the 
brandy. Pull that chair up, Eppstein?” 

The brandy was found. It shortly changed 
the complexion of things, and the extraordi- 
nary three were laughing and joking again. 
As time sped on, however, Bolinbroke occa- 
sionally lapsed into a deep study. 


INTRIGUE 


39 


Finally Stoddard said “What’s on your 
mind ?” 

“Thinking.” 

Isaac looked interested. 

“Yes, thinking; thinking some scheme — ^you 
Americans are ” 

“I won’t have your profanity, Stoddard. 
Stop it, please.” 

“I beg your pardon, sir; I wasn’t going to 
swear. Don’t let it trouble you. What were 
you thinking?” 

Bolinbroke did not speak for some minutes. 
He smoked furiously, as if making up his mind 
to perpetrate some act of violence. 

The Englishman and Jew waited. 

“There’s money in this girl,” he said delib- 
erately, and flicked the ashes from his cigar. 

“How?” asked Eppstein instantly, true to 
his instinct. 

“Well?” asked Stoddard, frowning. 

“Exploit her — advertise her. There’s 
enormous money in the right scheme. That 
girl would bring millions in voluntary contri- 
butions to build Millennium tabernacles, — 
rescue India and China. Why, I can think 


40 THE KING’S COMING 


out a business program that would catch this 
old world coming and going. People like to 
be humbugged.” Bolinbroke waxed warm on 
his scheme and sketched in a few side issues 
that were savory. “They’ll pay for being 
fooled, too, and count it for righteousness! 
Don’t you see it?” 

“No, I don’t. That’s one job I don’t fancy,” 
said the Englishman. 

“Why, religious stuff, if handled right, al- 
ways catches a certain amount.” 

“Yes,” went on Stoddard, more seriously 
than before. “I know a lot about these French 
girls — they’re always prophesying and seeing 
the Virgin Mary — the case at Lourdes, if you 
like; Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris; 
Joan of Arc ! Blowed if this slip here doesn’t 
claim to be descended from Joan’s family. 
Not by a jugful, sir, do I become sacrilegious! 
The whole bally thing might be true !” 

“It’s a great scheme !” put in Eppstein, with 
calm decision, 

“Stoddard, for argument’s sake. I’ll grant 
you that she is the real Messenger of Christ; 
and that the world is to be judged within her 


INTRIGUE 


41 


lifetime, say, but it is not sacrilegious to turn 
it into real money. Think, man! I’m not 
denying her convictions.” 

Bolinbroke was a masterful leader. Once 
the fire was kindled, he always brought it to 
quick heat. 

Surveying the determined Stoddard a half 
minute, he whistled a steady, single note, and 
added : 

“It’s our escape. You know unless we adopt 
some extraordinary method of disguise, the 
three of us will be caught and shot !” 

He pronounced the word “shot” with vehem- 
ence and a heavy stroke on the table. 

Isaac Eppstein jumped up, declaring: 

“I’m with you!” 

“Aides, gentlemen; Aides! is our chance.” 

It took a lot of argument, and considerable 
persuasion, to win Stoddard’s consent. At 
last he gave in, provided the thing would be 
carried on with dignity. Once in the plot, he 
could be counted on to stick. 

The clock struck two and three, in the 
morning, and the heads of Bolinbroke, Epp- 
stein and Stoddard were knotted together in 


42 


THE KING’S COMING 


whispered conference. They were working 
out the details of a wonderful campaign. 

“It’ll hold water, boys,” announced Bolin- 
broke at the conclusion. “It’ll make this old 
bored world sit up and take notice!” 


CHAPTER III 


THE START 



T was one thing to plan a campaign of 


operation, and quite another to put it 


into execution. In their schemings, 
Marie, the Messenger, was of course, the base, 
the dazzling star that would make success pos- 
sible. But they had regarded her throughout 
as amenable to control — a piece of superior 
potter’s clay to be molded by the strong wills 
of three worldly, wayfaring men. 

Hence, such awakening next morning when 
Marie said: “We shall leave within the day 
for Paris, where I begin my work,” that Bol- 
inbroke was so much taken by surprise as to 
exclaim “Huh!” and turn quickly in his chair. 

“Yes, Paris is to be my start. My own 
country must be first.” 

Bolinbroke and Eppstein never said “New 
York” in their deliberations, but through to 
the end the map of Manhattan Island and its 
contiguous boroughs constituted what they 
called “the bored world.” 


44 THE KINGS COMING 


Stoddard had no choice of places — he was 
more concerned with the dignity of the 
thing. 

Bolinbroke was general manager by unani- 
mous consent. He always did his acting as 
well as his thinking with lightning speed — ^yet 
diplomacy w'as never wanting. In the case in 
hand, it would not do to oppose the Messenger, 
first jump, 

“Why, certainly, dear Messenger, Paris 
must be for your start. France’s provincial 
cities will be next — in fact, war-torn Europe 
needs a healer for her wounds.” 

“Yes, Aide Bolinbroke,” returned Marie, 
with practical determination, “after France, 
we shall be told what to do for other countries 
of Europe.” 

Again the man who thought only “New 
York” received a shock for his plans. To be 
sure, he mentioned “Europe,” but as a sort of 
generic term — to be amiable. 

The ship he constructed the night before 
must now be steered with its aft foremost. 

Stoddard deliberately adjusted his monocle 


THE START 45 


and looked Marie over from the crown of her 
pretty head to the soles of her tiny slippers. 

The American and the American Jew were 
silent witnesses to this quiet stock-taking. 

Anyway, a business session was held by the 
four, wherein the main plans were readily 
arranged. They found Marie keen and alert, 
but cheerful and agreeable. Many details 
were fixed. One important matter to the men, 
that they should be called by their first names 
only — Aide Joseph, Aide Delwynn, etc. — re- 
lieved the men of some embarrassment. They 
had hoped that they could remain in that se- 
cluded spot long enough for their beards to 
grow. But Stoddard said they would have to 
“stubble” a crop in Paris. Marie decreed that 
she and her Aides must dress in white. One 
concession gave them comfort — “business de- 
tails,” she said, would be left to them. 

Bolinbroke might have been a little better 
pleased if she had said “business policies.” 
This French prophetess used English words 
with such exactness. 

“She knows what she wants, old top, eh?” 
commented Stoddard some hours afterward. 


46 THE KING'S COMING 


The four were walking to the railway sta- 
tion, Marie leading, Bolinbroke and Stoddard 
carrying the luggage, and Eppstein transport- 
ing a cage containing the two white doves. 
They meditated upon Stoddard’s isolated re- 
mark without encouraging further sarcasm. 

“Who is to be banker?” asked Marie, once 
they were settled in the railway carriage. 

“Aide Isaac,” gravely replied Stoddard. 

“Is he plentifully supplied?” 

“Yes, dear Messenger,” replied Isaac, bow- 
ing. 

“He has ten thousand francs,” promptly 
added Bolinbroke. Aide Delwynn and I are 
sub-treasurers, and have each a substantial 
balance.” 

The information satisfied her, and she gave 
attention to glimpses of the country from the 
window. Everything interested her im- 
mensely, so fresh and new — it was her first 
trip on a train — in fact, it was her advent into 
the world. Yet she knew it from books. 
Nothing seemed strange or out of place. She 
had read books and books — classics in several 
languages, novels of all kinds from every 


THE START 47 


country. It was her father's idea to divert 
her mind with all sorts of literature. But she 
took them to her Voices for advice, and they 
told her to read all of them and store away 
knowledge. “For,” continued they, “you will 
require everything you can learn,” 

Probably she did not give her Aides as much 
concern as they expected. Certainly they 
thought more intensely of her, and watched 
her every movement with far greater interest 
than anything they had encountered in their 
sojournings abroad. 

Meanwhile Marie sat up in her seat, prim 
and sweet, in a simple white frock and white 
wool coat, trimmed with ermine. Isaac was 
sitting beside her, and Joseph and Delwynn 
facing her on the opposite cushions. The fact 
is, the three men were so amazed at her fresh- 
ness of life and pristine beauty that they were 
fairly transfixed — the big, bullying American ; 
the shrewd, brainy, able Jew; the hard, dry- 
witted Englishman; and they could not con- 
template the difficult position they were in, 
for thinking of her and marveling at her. 

By and by, with ease and composure, she 


48 THE KING'S COMING 


turned her nebulous, soul-inspiring eyes upon 
her Aides, and said : 

“One thing I forgot to mention while we 
were planning this morning. Of course, we 
shall stop at the best hotel.” 

“Thank heaven!” ejaculated Stoddard, 
quite beside himself. “I was afraid we would 
be chucked away in some mission kept by 
Little Sisters of the Poor.” 

“No, no. Aide Delwynn,” said Marie, break- 
ing into a hearty girlish laugh. 

“No ; do not mistake His Coming this time. 
I, His Messenger, shall not be clad in raiment 
of camel’s hair and eat locusts and wild honey. 
Christ and John did those things then for a 
divine purpose, and to win, in humbleness, the 
great multitude. All this noble work has been 
done. His Second Coming is to be in glory as 
a King. Remember the Lord’s own words, in 
St. Matthew: 

“ ‘And there shall appear the sign of the 
Son of Man in heaven. . . . And they shall 
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. And He 


THE START 49 


shall send his angels with a great sound of 
trumpet! ” 

These ideas were more in harmony with 
Bolinbroke’s scheme. His theory ever was: 
if you want the best, you can get it only with 
the best. He regarded his erstwhile boon com- 
panions with a look that meant: “She’s talk- 
ing American horse-sense.” 

“That suits me,” admitted Isaac, who was 
deep, and a man of few words. 

The general conversation that ensued, while 
the express hurled them onward to Paris, be- 
came congenial and free from shyness on the 
Aides’ part. They saw that she was not back- 
ward, nor was she forward and light. They 
laughed and joked with her, but regarded her 
in spite of all, as the Messenger of Divinity, 
and gave themselves not a little trouble to cut 
out many useless adjectives that once were the 
punctuation marks of their spoken language. 

“I do believe that is Paris just ahead!” 
Marie exclaimed, springing to her feet. Paris 
was the touch word to her as to all French 
people. 

“It is Paris!” she affirmed — “I see Notre 


50 


THE KING’S COMING 


Dame and the Invalides! Ah, many other 
buildings, too — look! look! look at the Seine! 
the bridges! — ^boats! Oh, such a lot of 
houses !” 

Stoddard gave way then in his cold reserve 
and admired her. He said in his heart, that 
instant: “Any girl who can be so deliciously 
sweet and natural, is all right — be she priest- 
ess or princess.” 

The train slowed down, almost stopped, and 
then moved in steadily to the station. In less 
than a minute, Bolinbroke saw, by a swift cut 
of his eye, a high police official enter the vesti- 
bule at the end of the coach. Bolinbroke 
sounded the sharp, short whistle through his 
teeth, and instantly, the three Aides turned 
their backs to the door, to busy themselves 
with the baggage. 

The officer stopped, looked in, tipped his cap 
to the lady, and walked on his way. 

“Number One!” called Aide Joseph, lifting 
up a heavy bag. 

“Safe,” said Aide Delwynn. 

“Watch the comeback,” cautioned Isaac, 
pretending to guard the bag from falling. 


THE START 51 


Marie looked round to see why so many 
short, concerted remarks about her goods bag, 
but was satisfied to find it perfectly still in the 
center of the compartment. 

The hurly-burly drive through the streets to 
the Grand Hotel was immense to Marie. She 
relished little ecstatic excitements over any- 
thing that pleased her, and here was all 
France jammed up together for her to see at 
one time. Momentarily she laid aside the 
great responsibility of her mission, to bubble 
over in human exuberance. 

For those open-door glimpses into herself, 
the untrained Aides were grateful, but mostly 
grateful because it enabled Bolinbroke to 
assure himself and associates that no one 
followed the taxi. 

Paris stirred herself from the stupors of 
war. The last guns of the world-wide holo- 
caust ceased shortly before noon, on Novem- 
ber 11th, 1918. Suddenly — almost without 
warning — the armistice was signed in a rail- 
way coach, in a forest, on the Western front 
And Paris went wild with delight. Faith in 
the cause of liberty was justified. The boule- 


52 THE KING’S COMING 


yards, the avenues, the hovels of the Seine, 
Montmartre, broke into hurrahs of rejoicing. 
Battle-scarred heroes shouted themselves 
hoarse for Foch, Pershing and Haig; bands 
playing La Marseillaise, Rule Britannia, and 
The Star Spangled Banner aroused excited 
multitudes to acclaim the coming of peace. 
Cables and telegraphs spread the glad tidings 
to the uttermost parts of the earth. Cities 
and towns and villages everywhere arose in 
parades and gaiety of music to celebrate with 
France’s capital. In London, the holiday 
lasted a week — people danced in the streets 
from sheer happiness. New York marched 
and laughed in gala hysteria. 

Only in Berlin was there gloom. 

The treaty of peace was signed with 
nations in perfect accord. President Wood- 
row Wilson, of the United States, led the 
world in high principles of universal democ- 
racy. 

Soldiers returning to their homes were 
welcomed with enthusiasm. Never before had 
governments and their citizens shown greater 
appreciation of services rendered in the in- 


THE START 53 


terest of humanity. Works of charity and 
relief had received the full support of all 
classes. 

Then afterward private houses underwent 
thorough cleanings. Lackeys and doormen 
appeared in new uniforms, churches and pub- 
lic halls which had been occupied as hospitals 
during the war, hinted to the miserable 
inmates that a change would be desirable — 
, thus early showing that the fickle world, in 
practice, forgets patriotic sacrifices. Thous- 
ands of discharged soldiers, many with legs 
and arms gone — hundreds horribly maimed — 
roamed the streets, but the military spirit had 
been satiated, and eyes were turning away to 
old and new interests. Khaki and gold 
stripes were fast losing prestige and lustre. 
Paris meant to arouse herself and be lively 
and fascinating. 

Lawlessness simmered here and there and 
broke out in petty riots, giving the authorities 
plenty of exciting diversion. These more 
recent offenders lessened vigilance for war- 
time suspects. Aides Joseph, Isaac and Del- 
wynn seized the opportunity, and, donning 


54 


THE KING’S COMING 


respectability, emerged as the disciples of a 
beautiful young girl who promised great, 
spectacular things for the sore, battle-mangled 
world. The three gentlemen, clad in soft 
garments of pure white wool, and wearing 
white hats and white shoes, went in and out 
among the throngs, quite easy and free, even 
attracting favorable esteem as religious at- 
taches. Neatly cropped beards became them 
and completed the disguise in transition from 
the guiding spirits of a once dangerous and 
perfidious organization. 

Bolinbroke worked assiduously to insure 
the fame of the Messenger of Christ. Stod- 
dard and Eppstein caught the masterly enthu- 
siasm of their leader and became able col- 
leagues. The winter season was beginning. 
There was a gush and whir in all circles, and 
they seized the opportune moment. They 
engaged a maid for the Messenger, and ap- 
pointed for her a versatile and very correct 
secretary. The best suite in the Grand Hotel 
was engaged and properly arranged to provide 
for her comfort and dignity. Next and ad- 
joining they occupied a large group of rooms 


THE START 55 


as living apartments, offices and consultation 
bureaus. 

Attractiveness and novelty were the first 
steps toward the start. Ingeniously prepared 
interviews in the papers, written for the most 
part by Aide Joseph — his American surname, 
with those of the others, had been entirely 
dropped, — and the insertion of photographs of 
Marie the Messenger, set Paris to talking. 
Continental and English papers copied. Her 
fame spread like flames in dry tinder. Ameri- 
can newspapers and magazines took up the 
newest thing and instructed special corre- 
spondents to obtain particulars, and by all 
means, photographs. 

And yet so ingeniously had Aides Joseph 
and Delwynn handled the plans that the Mes- 
senger had not made her debut to a single 
public audience. Delwynn knew the main- 
springs, side cords, the idiosyncracies, and 
strange sensitive fads of society, and got her 
introduced. In magnificent drawing rooms, 
she addressed select groups and discreetly 
expounded the messages she was bringing to 
the world. Everywhere she won. Invitations 


56 THE KING’S COMING 


poured in, and her meetings and receptions 
began to be attended by notables from other 
cities. Her brief talks were gems of cultured 
periods; her logic faultless; her delivery and 
voice perfect — her voice clear, in fine harmony, 
and as thrilling as octaves of silver bells. Her 
composure, manner, grace, resourcefulness 
embellished by astonishingly pretty white 
gowns and a string of pearls about her flaw- 
less marble-white neck, made her the charming 
and holy enchantress of the world’s fashion- 
able capital. Last, but the capsheaf of her 
physical prowess, her matchless beauty, a 
veritable gift of heaven, warm, real and magi- 
cally compelling, caused every knee to bow in 
worshipful adoration. 

The populace of Paris and of the nations 
of earth were famishing, hungering for a 
religious revival. War always lays bare the 
hearts of men, and turns to God bereaved, 
grief-stricken women. Millions of lives sacri- 
ficed to bullet, shell and bomb must find a 
haven somewhere. The most hardened sceptic 
before the slaughter would not have the hardi- 


THE START 57 


hood to deny a spiritual rest for the slain. 
There just must be a heaven. 

Souls athirst for truth, instinctively looked 
for a clearer, more real revelation of divine 
fatherhood. There must certainly be a city 
of eternal life, and men of lowly mien and high 
estate cried for an intimate realization of the 
essence and ultimate goal of existence. The 
mission of Christ, from Bethlehem, had been 
gloriously successful in planting upon earth 
for all time Christianity and the knowledge of 
His teachings, but the modern church, as it 
was in 1914, had ceased to convince and sat- 
isfy. There were millions of professed 
Christians, who were too cowardly to admit 
that they did not believe. In that, they were 
worse than a thief who steals in the night. 
Punctuality, rites, ceremonies, creeds, out- 
ward appearances, slothful staleness were the 
practices of the times. 

Priests said hundreds of thousands of 
masses daily to millions and millions who 
came drowsily and mechanically and went 
away barren, unthinking and irresponsible. 
Thousands and thousands of educated, tal- 


58 THE KING'S COMING 


ented ministers and pastors delivered learned, 
theoretical or amusing orations to audiences 
constantly diminishing to flock to theatres 
and the “movies.” The last state of the world 
was fast becoming worse than barbaric. But 
in every bosom, without exception, was the 
pure, inherent belief in a God. And they 
cried the more for the lifting of the veil, the 
sweeping aside of platitudes and mysteries, 
that bleeding, starving humanity might live 
and walk with God. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE AIDES SCHEME 



rVERYTHING must be subservient 
to the success of the Messenger’s 
mission. The Aides had first in 
mind financial triumph, but, of course, real- 
ized that Marie would, of necessity, have to 
win the people to her, or money would not 
flow. The larger and more genuine her sway 
among the multitudes, the greater and more 
substantial results of a material nature. 

After first impressions and newspaper 
patronage had assured the Aides that their 
conclusions were correct, and it was almost 
opportune to bring Marie the Messenger be- 
fore public audiences, they reconstructed their 
plans somewhat, and prepared well to turn to 
profit every future movement. Finally they 
were ready to act. 

A huge package lay on the library table in 
Aide Joseph’s private offices. Aides Delwynn 
and Isaac sat by while Joseph patiently untied 


60 THE KING'S COMING 


and unwound yards of whipcord. At last he 
finished, carefully folded the wrapping paper, 
put it into the wooden packing case, and rang 
for an attendant to remove it. 

This proceeding revealed an immense vol- 
ume, bound in thick leather and reinforced by 
heavy silver mountings. The three men stood 
about it in silent admiration. It was two feet, 
six inches long, two feet wide and twelve 
inches thick. 

“This is The Book of Life," said Aide 
Joseph quietly — “Volume I. — Volumes II., III., 
IV. and V. will be delivered to us three months 
apart — faster if we require.” 

“How many names will it hold?” asked 
Isaac. 

“Two hundred to the page. There are six 
thousand pages in the book — it will contain 
one million two hundred thousand names, and 
addresses, or other designations.” 

“Your scheme is all right,” said the English- 
man with decision. “In France each one of 
these names will produce an average of twenty 
francs, probably more. In the United States 
your average per name will be higher. Capi- 


THE AIDE’S SCHEME 61 


tal, I say, old chap — a capital idea. I hope you 
will require ten volumes.” 

Aide Joseph, originator of The Book of Life 
feature of the comprehensive plan, looked on, 
smiling while Aides Isaac and Delwynn ad- 
mired and asked questions. 

“There is a blank space after each name for 
the amount of his voluntary contribution?” 
asked Isaac, examining the ruled pages for the 
tenth time. 

“Yes; it’s best to have the gifts before the 
public’s eyes,” replied Aide Joseph gravely. 
“It works for good in several ways. It’s a 
reminder to the signer that he is expected to 
give ; he sees the various sums above his name, 
and he will be ashamed to go down on The 
Book of Life for a niggardly amount — particu- 
larly since the gift is a voluntary one, and the 
only one he, or she, will be expected to give 
on earth.” 

Aide Joseph sat down, quite satisfied with 
himself and The Book of Life. 

With great deliberateness Aide Delwynn 
screwed his monocle in position and looked 
Joseph over from head to foot. 


62 THE KING’S COMING 


“Well?” asked Joseph and Isaac in one 
voice. 

“As I was going to say, oh — oh! you’re 
clever. Why, hang it all, your plan is so gen- 
teel, seductive, if you please, that not a bally 
one of them will get by. He must give if he 
signs, eh? I say, Joe, go over the working of 
that again. There must be a soft, frowsy 
plank somewhere.” 

“Follow me again, you and Isaac. When 
I’ve finished tell me what is weak. 

“People all over the world are tired of 
being asked for money. Finances shall never 
be mentioned in our public meetings. Near the 
close, the ushers will take up the usual collec- 
tions without comment from anyone. These 
will tacitly be understood to be for general 
expenses, and will, I estimate, pay our hotel 
and traveling expenses. 

“Converts made by the Messenger, or peo- 
ple convinced by the power of her speech and 
influence, will be requested by her to come to 
General Headquarters any time they choose, 
and sign The Book of Life, so that when 
Christ comes, there will be a record of their 


THE AIDES SCHEME 63 


acknowledgment of Him and an indication of 
their wish to be remembered in the final 
judgment.” 

“I say, Joe, hang it, that’s the strongest part 
of the scheme. Every bally mother’s son of 
them will sneak around and sign the book. It 
may or it mayn’t be so, as far as they’re con- 
cerned, but the blarsted imps won’t take any 
chances !” 

The Aides laughed until they seemed foolish 
to each other. 

“When those so convinced, or influenced, 
show themselves at Headquarters, The Book 
of Life will be found effectively placed, and in 
charge of a most able and discreet man, who 
shall with great dignity answer questions, and 
explain that the gift, purely voluntary as to 
the amount by the signer, and the only one he 
or she will ever have the happy opportunity 
to make, will be devoted to divers good causes, 
and to erect a memorial temple in the Holy 
Land to commemorate His Second Coming.” 

“Simple and sound!” pronounced Delwynn 
with finality. “It’s miles ahead of anything 
yet sprung upon this earth.” 


64 THE KING'S COMING 


It could be seen that Isaac approved, but 
he was less demonstrative. “You must be 
sure,” he said, knitting his brows, “that the 
august attendant in charge of The Book of 
Life, always and faithfully explains that the 
gifts are to be employed for divers good 
causes ” 

“He shall not be left to his own devices 
about this Declaration of Uses, shall I say?” 
smiled Joseph. “I have it written out in plain, 
carefully considered language — ‘For divers 
expenses, funds, payments, good causes and 
the erection of a Memorial Temple,’ etc.” 

“That’s safe enough,” Isaac said, satisfied. 

“There’s one thing that must be clearly 
understood, from the start,” continued Aide 
Joseph, regarding the lighted end of his cigar. 
“Every cent of this money must be put down 
and accounted for — how we use it and what 
we do with it. We are the sole judges, trus- 
tees and administrators, but complete records 
are essential. Isaac, as the General Treasurer 
and Custodian, shall keep a comprehensive set 
of books.” 


THE AIDES’ SCHEME 65 


There was no dissenting voice in that ar- 
rangement. 

Delwynn added naively: “Or else how 
could we know how to divide the spoils?’’ 

The scheming three chuckled understand- 
ingly. 

Isaac persevered: 

“Has The Book of Life been explained to 
the Messenger?” 

“Yes,” replied Joseph, “sufficiently, and she 
thinks it immense. She will urge all — ah ! she 
comes !” 

The Messenger of Christ tapped gently at 
the outer door, but entered without waiting to 
be bidden. 

“I come to view and bless The Book of 
Life.” 

She looked the part of a holy vision. Her 
greeting to her Aides was majestic, queenly, 
and they were awed with the feeling that, 
after all, it might be true! 

Silence of the painful kind reigned for a 
full minute while the earth’s accuser examined 
the massive book with interested care. 

“It is well done,” she said simply, and with 


66 THE KING’S COMING 


one lovely hand on the front cover of the pon- 
derous volume, and the other raised toward 
heaven, she proceeded to pronounce the bless- 
ing: 

“In Thy Holy Name, Jesus Christ, by the 
power given to me as Your Messenger on 
earth to announce Your Second Coming and 
to warn all mankind to prepare, I bless this 
The Book of Life and its sister volumes to 
follow, and designate it to be used to contain 
the names and wishes of the people who own 
themselves subjects of the Most High God !” 

Aide Joseph arose, with gold pen in hand, 
and advanced to the head of the table. 

“You would sign The Book of Life?” he 
asked, as if inquiring most solemnly of a re- 
pentant soul, fleeing from the judgment and 
wrath of the Almighty. 

The Messenger said : “I will,” and took the 
pen. 

“Then write your name plainly, and describe 
yourself, or if you prefer, write an address. 
This is the most solemn and sacred record you 
will ever make. It is as the blood of the lamb 
on the door posts of the Children of Israel, to 


THE AIDES’ SCHEME 67 


mark them in the Passover. When the Son of 
Man shall come in His glory, let us hope that 
this acknowledgment you now put down will 
set you apart to Him as one of the Redeemed. 

“The gift you will subscribe opposite your 
name is voluntary on your part. You are not 
required to give — it must be a free impulse. 

“No other opportunity will ever be given 
you to participate. The sum so given, and 
others to be added, shall constitute a fund to 
be used by us for divers expenses, payments, 
charities, good causes, and for the erection of 
a Memorial Temple, in the Holy Land, to 
commemorate His Coming. 

“The blessing of God smile upon you, and 
the music of His holy angels comfort you until 
He comes in a blaze of glory and blasts of 
trumpets, to rule as the King of Heaven and 
Earth. Amen.” 

Marie was pleased with the officiating of 
her chief Aide, and leaned forward and wrote 
on the first line of the first page of The Book 
of Life: 


68 THE KING’S COMING 


“Marie Josephine d’Estanger, 

The Messenger of Christ, 

Chateau Monstoir. 

At the gift blank, she considered a moment, 
then executed the figures: “Francs 5,000.” 

Turning to Isaac, she said : 

“You will wait a minute.” 

No one moved in the room while she went 
and returned. No one dared to look at the 
Book. 

“My father gave this to me,” she said. “It 
is all I have, and I give it to add its share to 
the glory that shall be. There are five thous- 
and francs.” And she handed the crisp. Bank 
of France notes to Isaac, the Treasurer. 

While she stood as if hesitating to depart, 
the three Aides, one after another, in dead 
silence, signed The Book of Life, writing op- 
posite 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 francs, and imme- 
diately placing the amounts on the pile of the 
Messenger’s gift. 

And again after her departure, Delwynn 
adjusted his monocle, and staring straight up 
at the ceiling, said in earnest, even tones : 

“This has become deuced serious business !” 


THE AIDES’ SCHEME 69 


“I wish you wouldn’t swear, Del,” said 
Joseph in appeal. 

“ ’Pon my word, old chap, I say, was I 
swearing? I beg pardon. If a blighter ever 
felt serious, I do right now.” 

“You’ve been letting a few of the forbidden 
words slip here and there all morning. Watch 
yourself. It somehow seems out of place 
now.” 

“Don’t be too exacting,” pleaded Isaac in a 
conciliatory tone. “There are occasions when 
swearing is downright solemn language.” 

The big Jew asked for a match, and lighting 
a fresh cigar, settled down in his chair and 
interlaced his long fingers. 

“We have observed your plan restated and 
put into practical operation, Joe,” he said, 
thinking ponderously, “and it is sound. 

“The basic supposition is, of course, that the 
Messenger will convert, will move the people 
to act. Of the certainty of this, I have no 
doubt. In the language of Delwynn, it has 
‘become deuced serious business.’ We must 
see it through. I dare not think of the possible 


70 THE KING’S COMING 


eventualities. But we are in, and all the time, 
we must pull together. 

“Lengthy speeches cannot alter the gravity 
of the situation, or make more feasible, or 
commendatory, your main plan. 

“Before we conclude this conference, may I 
be permitted to suggest that there will doubt- 
less occur important subsidiary issues and 
opportunities to make money and turn it into 
appropriate channels?” 

Isaac had not previously condescended to 
take any initiative, although his companions 
were fully aware of his capabilities, and they 
told him to speak. 

“One important work lies ahead in our 
pathway. It has been an all-consuming dream 
in my life, and I want you, my associates, who 
are strong and loyal, to pledge me equal ardor 
and fidelity in carrying it out to certain, world- 
wide realization. 

“I mean The Return of the Jews. 

“God has punished them for their stiff- 
necked, stubborn disobedience. They are, as 
promised in the Scriptures, scattered to the 
uttermost parts of the world, among all 


THE AIDES’ SCHEME 71 


nations, everywhere, but they have kept their 
ancient faith. They are Jews still. Orthodox 
Jews have neither married, nor given in mar- 
riage, with other nationalities. They are no 
longer God’s chosen people, but they are His 
peculiar people. They are seldom punished for 
crimes by your courts. You have seldom seen 
a drunken Jew. We have blessed all nations 
by our presence and works among them — we 
have remained steadfastly a peculiar people, 
although laughed at, mocked and hated by all, 
and may we not cry: ‘Lord God of our Father 
Abraham, it is enough? We have sinned 
against thee exceedingly. Pray, now forgive 
our trespass; bring us again in the land that 
is ours, by pledge to Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. Make of us a nation in that land flow- 
ing with milk and honey, that our seed and 
our traditions and history may be preserved 
as those of other honorable peoples !’ ” 

“Hear, hear !” shouted Bolinbroke and 
Stoddard as they sprang to Eppstein and 
pledged their support, in gripping hands. 

“I am a descendant of Judah,” continued 
Isaac, greatly moved. “My family history is 


72 THE KING'S COMING 


back in Brooklyn, stored away in the safe of 
my father’s clothing store. 

“My father, Jacob, in calling together his 
sons, in Egypt, before his death, said; 

“ ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah, 
nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until 
Shiloh come; and unto him shall be the gath- 
ering, of the people.*’* 

Isaac paused and considered his thoughts. 

“The Gentiles say Shiloh came. We look yet 
for his coming. If our Messenger truly rep- 
resents the Shiloh, and He comes, then the 
contention between Jew and Gentile ceases 
to be. 

“As the living, modern representative of 
Judah, 1 want to claim the promise to Him, 
and have the leadership in the gathering to- 
gether of our peculiar people in Palestine ; that 
there may be a restoration of the nation called 
Israel, with twelve provinces, as of old, named : 
Reuben, Simeon. Judah. Zebulon. Issachar. 
Ephraim and Benjamin, Manasseh, Manasseh 
Beyond Jordan, Dan. Ascher. Naphtali, and 
Dan and Gilead.’’ 

Along down the hall, in the Messenger’s 


THE AIDES’ SCHEME 73 


apartment, Marie was having a quiet hour. 
She stood by the dove cote, in the window seat ; 
welcomed her two pets — Peter and John — as 
they flew in from an excursion over the city; 
and then she paused for some time, thinking 
of the three men whom she had chosen to go 
with her to the end. 


CHAPTER V 


TRIUMPH 

Q ARIS clamored to hear the Messenger 
of Christ. The mixed multitude de- 
sired to see her and know if she were, 
indeed, the representative of Him who had 
promised to come again to judge the living and 
the dead. Anxious groups lingered in the 
streets by the Grand Hotel, in the hope that 
they might catch even a fleeting glimpse of the 
wondrous descendant of one of the family of 
Joan of Arc. People wrote letters to her by 
thousands. It became necessary to set guards 
before her apartments to protect her from the 
over-zealous. French newspapers suggested 
in editorials that the Messenger should show 
herself in public. 

The Aides considered the people’s curiosity 
piqued sufficiently to launch the campaign with 
a push great enough to send it from nation to 
nation. They accordingly secured the largest 
and finest public hall, in the capital, and an- 
nounced broadcast a grand meeting of Pari- 


TRIUMPH 


75 


sians, citizens of France, and strangers so- 
journing in the land, to see and hear the 
Messenger of Christ proclaim His Second 
Coming. The hour would be eleven o’clock 
the following Sunday morning. 

There was a flare of newspaper comment, 
the boiled-down substance of which meant : a 
mysterious personage has come into our midst 
to upset and excite the gullible populace; let 
us go and see and prove the claim. This sug- 
gestion naturally whetted the entire gamut of 
people — educated and otherwise — to “go and 
see.” 

In the wake of good, in fact, often in the 
same working groove with it, evil is always to 
be found endeavoring to destroy; and if de- 
struction cannot be effected, to lessen, minimize 
and render void anything intended to help and 
elevate mankind. It is a strange enigma 
planned for humanity’s trial. It could not, 
therefore, be hoped that Marie the Messenger 
would be allowed to walk through arches of 
triumph and along paths strewn with roses. 
Why, the whole order of the world would be 
reversed at one stroke, and millions of evil- 


76 THE KING’S COMING 


minded robbed of the sweetness of a real sub- 
ject for their perfidious criticisms. 

As soon as the hour and place of the first 
meeting were known, a high “grandee” in 
civil affairs said to his henchmen : “Let us fall 
to now and annihilate this prophetess at the 
first meeting. If she possesses divine powers, 
she must show the people.” 

As of old, notwithstanding thousands of 
years of education and enlightment, the world 
requires a sign in all things where God is con- 
cerned. They will not believe without mir- 
acles. And an evil genius, by insidious 
processes, using churches and ministers over 
hundreds of years to further his aims, has told 
men that the day of miracles is passed. 

The high “grandee,” therefore, lacking 
originality to ferret out a new way to prove 
her, demanded of her a sign, a miracle. 

“What shall it be, Jacques?” 

The henchman fingered wisely his straggling 
imperial, squinted his beady eyes, long ago 
blinded from pure and sacred things by selling 
his soul for graft money, and replied to his 
overlord ; 


TRIUMPH 


77 


“There is Annette Didon.” 

They laughed and slapped their knees. 

“What, Jacques, have Annette Didon! 
Sacre! happy thought. Another she might 
trick into believing, but Annette must be healed 
to believe. Everybody knows Annette Didon.” 

They laughed again more heartily, drank 
more wine, and spiced their plottings by relat- 
ing unnamable experiences in clandestine ren- 
dezvous ! 

All Paris knew Annette Didon. She was 
hideously deformed; wasted legs and arms, 
double curvature of the spine, right side of 
face paralyzed, and chin drawn down on her 
breast. She could not walk a step. For years 
she had sat in the Garden of the Tuileries and 
fed the birds. Her voice possessed remark- 
able sweetness, and she attracted birds of all 
sorts to her by singing to them. On Sundays, 
winter and summer, crowds of people collected 
about Annette to hear her sing and see spar- 
rows and other feathered creatures light upon 
her miserable form and eat crumbs from her 
hands or lips. Annette took advantage of 
those audiences to make appeals for coppers 


78 THE KING’S COMING 


and small silver pieces, upon which she man- 
aged to live. She was a familiar spectacle of 
woe, crawling through the streets nights and 
mornings, returning from and going to her 
station in the Tuileries. Men, women, and 
children called her by name; she had a cheery 
smile and often a witty, or amusing, remark 
on her lips. 

Some churchmen, many policemen, a sprink- 
ling of substantial people, went to the 
“grandee,” asking if something could be done. 
He grinned wisely, saying: “Let the meeting 
go on; I shall wither the bud publicly, — the 
lesson will be the more effectual.” Hence it was 
whispered among the opposition — ^the halt and 
maimed in heart and mind, the evil, the slan- 
derers, and the destroyers of virtue, — that the 
Messenger of Christ would be exposed by “the 
strong arm” at the Sunday morning meeting. 
This resulted in good, for it enticed to hear 
Marie, the dark underworld. 

Annette, the bird wooer, was deeply re- 
ligious, and readily consented to be set before 
the Messenger for the purpose of being healed. 

“I read about her in the papers,” said An- 


TRIUMPH 


79 


nette to the henchman who saw her and 
arranged for policemen to carry her through 
the crowd, on Sunday morning, to the Mes- 
senger’s feet, to have her poor body made 
whole. 

“Then you know all about her,” replied the 
low and cunning Jacques. 

“Oh, yes; I read.” 

Annette’s horrible, but tender, young face 
lighted up with the first hope that had come 
to her in life. She never knew whether she 
ever had a father and mother. In her witty 
jokes she said she supposed not — she must 
have been an accident; a conglomeration of 
scraps thrown away after making other peo- 
ple. An old woman, silent and mean, had kept 
her until about the age of ten ; since her death 
about that time, Annette turned her heart to 
the birds in the Tuileries. 

“Four policemen will come here for you 
Sunday morning, at exactly eleven o’clock, and 
carry you to the Messenger. Only one condi- 
tion. You must promise when you are set 
before her, you will cry with a loud voice three 
times : ‘Heal me ! Heal me ! Heal me !’ If you 


80 THE KING’S COMING 


do not promise this, then we cannot come to 
bring you.” 

Annette, being sufficiently impressed with 
the importance of making the triple cry, 
promised to do as required. 

“I’m sure I shall be healed,” she told 
Jacques. “Every day the Messenger’s doves 
come to my singing. Hark ! I hear John’s coo 
now — they are named Peter and John. Each 
bears a gold tag on his foot, with his name 
and that of the Messenger’s.” 

The sordid Jacques stared at Annette. 

She folded her blighted hands, crooned 
a sweet, mysterious song, and quickly from the 
top of a spring-budded tree came the Messen- 
ger’s doves, fluttering down with responsive 
soft cooings. They nestled under Annette’s 
chin. Tears dropped on their glossy wings; 
she talked to them out of the depths of her 
soul. 

“The fair Messenger will heal me, will she 
not, John?” 

John’s pink bill sought her mouth in gentle 
caress. 

Jacques walked away with a tightness in his 


TRIUMPH 


81 


throat. Secretly, when S3nnpathy had pried the 
scales from his conscience, he wished it would 
be true. 

Back in General Headquarters, the Aides 
made elaborate preparations. Care was used 
to give the Messenger a free hand and oppor- 
tunity to become filled with the importance of 
the message she would deliver. The letters of 
thousands had made her impatient to be about 
her work, so that no suggestion from anyone 
was necessary. As a matter of fact, the day 
she arrived in Paris, she could have walked 
directly into the grand hall on the boulevard 
and told the assembled throng exactly what 
she would now bring to them. But Marie was 
as wise as any of her guides, and listened will- 
ingly to Aide Joseph’s advice to make the 
people hungry for her message. Marie, even 
with her divine insight and spiritual loftiness, 
realized that the world is easiest caught by 
being beguiled with schemings of wisdom and 
common sense. Hence she waited until curi- 
ous people would fain have laid hands upon 
her and dragged her out from her retreat. 

“Everything is in readiness — perfect, I 


82 THE KING'S COMING 


think,” she was assured by Aide Joseph, on 
Saturday evening, when the Messenger and 
her Aides dined together in their apartment. 

“I’m ready. Aides,” she said, daintily tasting 
the soup placed before her. 

“I know there will be many, many eager 
people there. My callers have been in droves 
this week.” 

“Aides Isaac and Delwynn and I have been 
exceedingly busy with The Book of Life. 
More than two thousand have signed. The 
banker Finistierre gave fifty thousand to the 
magnificent Memorial Temple to be erected.” 

“But what is the temper of the people? — 
do they believe? — is it curiosity? — do they 
think me an adventuress, a sorceress, a witch?” 

Isaac replied: “It is difficult to analyze the 
world, my dear Messenger. When you think 
you know, you are most hopelessly mistaken.” 

“I know, I know; I wonder if they will be 
as thoughtless as ever?” 

“Aye, aye! my lady. The blessed world 
would always require a sign. It is as fickle as 
an April day. There’s no good, at all, in ex- 
pecting a chivalrous acceptance of you right 


TRIUMPH 


83 


off. There’ll be a certain number, you know, of 
girls and women, and respectable men, of 
course; but no one can be sure, these days, if 
you awsk me. You have done wonders here, 
though, and honestly I look for you to make a 
topping success.” 

Marie smiled. She followed her cautious 
Aide’s mental process through his rambling 
reply, and understood that he meant merely to 
make it easy for her. 

But she knew what she would do. 

“The world will get its signs and wonders 
now,” she said quietly. “It has had its greatest 
promised sorrow — the World War — and was 
blind. There is peace these many months, and 
yet the strong nations hold counsel over how 
they will divide and parcel out in Africa and 
elsewhere territories that do not even belong 
to them. The people will get the signs, and 
then they will recast and remake the nations 
now long since cankered and soiled under the 
old r%ime. Jesus is coming, and these things 
shall come to an end forever.” 

The Aides put down their forks and looked 
at their spiritual dreamer. 


84 THE KING’S COMING 


“I will give them His sign. There shall be 
lacking no evidence that He is coming and that 
I am sent to warn all mankind to prepare. 
Jesus has given the earth two thousand years 
to think it over, and in its midst He has been 
meek and lowly, preferring by slow process to 
become rooted in the heart and known by cul- 
ture and education from the rising of the sun 
to the going down thereof. But by and by the 
time will be fulfilled that He shall come as a 
mighty King to compel men to know Him from 
the glory and majesty of His brow. He will 
come then to judge and sort the wheat from 
the chaff. Verily, a sign shall be given. The 
world always looks for the miraculous in 
heavenly things. God Himself in this super- 
modern age can only be believed if He per- 
forms a miracle. And the people say the days 
of miracles are gone forever. Who said so? 
Who from heaven issued the edict? No one. 
Where is the authority? There is none. And 
yet the people demand a miracle as divine 
proof. Verily, verily, my Aides, they shall 
have a sign, many signs ; they shall know God 
and believe in fear and trembling.” 


TRIUMPH 


85 


The Aides sat spellbound at her outburst. 

They were awakened to the fact that the 
enchanting young girl before them was a pow- 
erful personality, a royal spirit knowing full 
well her mission and what she expected and 
demanded from the hoary world. 

The meal was finished in silence, but with 
a happy assurance in the minds of all that real 
things were due to happen on the morrow. 

Meanwhile all the week, and particularly all 
that day and evening, Annette the bird woer, 
had been telling the bystanders in the Tuileries 
and the street that on Sunday morning the 
Messenger of Christ would heal her — make 
her as other people. Thus the curious were 
the more aroused. 

Sunday dawned upon the city of the Seine. 
There was the usual loud clatter in the streets 
and boulevards. Sleek grooms and chauffeurs 
guided wealth and opulence swiftly along 
Avenue des Champs Elysee. The elite basked 
in their morning strolls. White-capped nurses 
and governesses hurried to the Tuileries and 
Bois de Boulogne, for spring had shaken oft 
the chill of winter, and light-heartedness burst 


86 THE KING’S COMING 


bounds hitherto enforced by war. The gay 
city, the cosmopolitan cesspool, the center of 
France, the jocular hostelry of good and bad, 
of peasants and princes, of statesmen, artists, 
apaches and poor — some of all the world — 
palpitated and revived as a giantess stirring 
from an age of slumber. The figure on the 
Bastile monument threw a glitter to grim 
Napoleon; the spire of St. Sulpice, the portals 
of Notre-Dame, the obelisk in Place de la 
Concorde, stately Invalides and Trocadero, 
overlooked and commanded by Eififel Tower, 
seemed to call unto their city saying: “Awake, 
Behold! He speaks to you this day from 
heaven !” 

By nine o’clock, people began to assemble 
before the magnificent hall. When the doors 
opened at ten, a mixed concourse of rabble and 
respectable, of rich and poor, rolled in to fill 
the fifteen thousand seats. At ten-thirty the 
gathering crowd began to stand. A quarter 
before the appointed hour the police without 
held in line and jostled other thousands. 
Special forces were summoned from all parts 


TRIUMPH 


87 


of the city and cordons formed to keep the 
passage clear. 

Then whisked up a huge limousine, bearing 
the Messenger and her Aides. Breathless and 
expectant, the outer crowd looked on in awe. 
When Marie stepped to the landing, and 
walked easily up through the main entrance, 
hand-clapping arose, which quickly subsided 
into quiet, patient waiting. 

Within this newest tabernacle of Paris, 
thousands turned upon her happy faces, curi- 
ous faces, doubting faces, but all radiant with 
the hope that something novel would happen. 
Seething, complex children of men, fed by the 
press with glowing accounts of the inspired 
descendant of one connected with Joan of Arc, 
and whispered inklings of her power and mes- 
sage, had bunched themselves together to see 
and hear. A small clock on the speaker’s ros- 
trum, in the center of the circular amphitheater, 
made an audible disturbance with its ticking, 
so intense was the stillness that greeted the 
Messenger of His Second Coming. 

Marie advanced gracefully and unaffected 
by the thousands of searching eyes that were 


88 THE KING’S COMING 


riveted upon her transfigured countenance. 
She looked back a greeting of good-will and 
kindly concern without giving a nod of appre- 
ciation. She was there to warn them of the 
Coming of the King, and not to play upon the 
harp of popular caprice. By the time she took 
her stand on the forum, and opened wide the 
most famous of volumes, quick, pulsating 
hearts said: “Surely an angel has appeared.” 

France had never in all her long history 
heard such a discourse. The silver-tongued 
maid sent her words, telling and persuading, 
to those in the top round seats. Not an accent, 
not an inflexion were lost. The audience 
came to sip a new doctrine and behold won- 
ders ; she merely, but masterfully opened their 
minds to w'hat they had always read as a 
mythical fable. Churchmen came to pick a 
flaw and charge her with heresy ; she held the 
light so close to their near-sighted eyes that 
they saw and were aflFrighted. The stern and 
astute, the wise and learned, came to mock — 
some, since God was unconcerned and a far-off 
dignitary; and these by the earnestness of her 
message, the lucidity of her logic, she snatched 


TRIUMPH 


89 


back to reason and realization, and they sat 
and gazed at a magic vista. And she reached 
others. In the complex thousands that hung 
upon her words, were S)nTipathetic, believing 
beings who did not need to be convinced, but 
who touched tow to her fire and sent the cur- 
rent steady and strong to every secret chamber 
in the crowded, packed auditorium. The 
Message was too grand and serious to evoke 
applause. Wide-eyed consternation gave way 
to warm approval; fear coming stealthily was 
banished by hope; yearning for the solace of 
the redeemed was satisfied by reaffirming the 
promises of the Redeemer. Tears shouted back 
to the Messenger of Christ that she had won ; 
beaming faces cheered that they believed. 

In splendid, sublime peroration, Marie 
closed her message, and urged all to sign The 
Book of Life. Then she paused to take ac- 
count for her Master of the throbbing, 
breathing army that had congregated at her 
feet. 

A bustle and stir at the entrance rudely 
broke the sacred quietude. It was the entry of 


90 THE KINGS COMING 


Annette Didon, borne on a litter by the police- 
men. 

There was a slight buzz of murmurs in the 
audience, but people hushed and craned their 
necks. 

The miracle ! 

Marie, the Messenger of Christ, turned to 
the approaching cortege and waited. The 
moment was supreme. Someone whispered; 
“Annette, the bird wooer !” 

The policemen halted and stood as if at 
attention. Annette, attired as a little girl for 
her first communion, sat up on the litter and 
was moved entirely away from earth and her 
surroundings by the holy vision. 

She cried aloud, piteously, three times : 
"Guerisses-moir (Heal me! heal me, heal 
me!) 

A fear fell upon the audience. 

There was a flap of wings in the open 
window. Marie’s doves flew in and hovered 
over her! She spread her hands to heaven, 
and said: 

“Jesus, Thou Mighty. Heal this. Thy 
servant. Show Thy power upon earth!” 


TRIUMPH 


91 


Annette shrieked with gladness. Vigor 
came into her limbs — ^hitherto bloodless and 
shrunken; her face became whole and beauti- 
ful. She leaped, she gamboled like a dizzy 
fawn! 

Then, when the people broke into a roar of 
wildest excitement, Annette, the bird wooer, 
stilled them. She mounted the lesser platform, 
beneath the Messenger, and began to sing a 
weird, but strangely touching carol. The hush 
was oppressive. 

And the windows were a-flutter with birds. 
They entered and flew about in little flocks, 
twittering and chirping to their charmer. 


CHAPTER VI 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 

night, after a most arduous day 
^ J with The Book of Life, hundreds 
signing it, and many giving princely 
sums of money, the three Aides sat in the 
interior chamber in their headquarters, at the 
hotel, and discussed the turn of events with 
more than usual care and far greater serious- 
ness. 

“Del, what do you and Isaac think now?” 
asked the big Chief Aide, directing his search- 
ing gaze straight into their faces. 

“I don’t think,” replied Delwynn, without 
hesitation, “I believe!” 

Isaac had theories and some predicated 
explanations, but the substance of his lengthy 
remarks was that he, also, believed. 

“Then we all believe!” shouted Bolinbroke, 
striking the table with his old-time vim. 

“Yes! yes!” snapped the other two men in 
quick succession, like rifle shots to the cannon’s 
roar. 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 93 


Enthusiasm seized the really big-brained 
Aides, and for some minutes there was a more 
or less touching scene. 

Bolinbroke jerked himself up erect. “Now! 
what are we to do?” 

“Don’t awsk me ! I say, old top, doubting, in 
any form is forbidden — if you don’t mind!” 

Isaac laughed heartily. 

“It is, gentlemen! But what are we to do?” 

“Chuck it!” said Delwynn, with sharp em- 
phasis. 

“You mean, of course,” Isaac quickly inter- 
posed: “the Secret League?” 

“Certainly, Ike. You don’t suppose for a 
moment we could abandon the Messenger? 
The puzzle to me is, how the devil you, Bolin- 
broke and I ever got into that muck. I know ; 
I know; it was the bitter treatment of my 
uncle! If we had gone on — well, we would 
have been rich and — outlaws !” 

They observed that Delwynn dwelt upon 
gloomy thoughts. 

“If you ‘awsk’ me,” said Joseph, hoping to 
break the spell, “we were fools, with the finest 
dark scheme on earth.” 


94 THE KING’S COMING 


“Not so dark,” growled Stoddard, looking 
fierce and savage, “until we brought in — I 
brought in this gang of cutthroats here in 
Paris. If we’d kept on with your plan, we 
could have had Belgium for the awsking, in 
the end. You had the powers all beaten. It 
would have been a wonderful coup ! Think of 
it! Nothing to compare with it in history! 
And, Joe, you had it in your waistcoat pocket 
— until I messed it about with the scum of the 
world !” 

“Don’t feel badly about it. Isaac and I 
agreed to your proposal. We needed money.” 

“Yes!” shouted the little Englishman, “and 
for agreeing to my dastardly scheme, inspired 
by my hatred and desire to fleece my uncle, 
you got three governments after you.” 

“But we never touched a penny of the 
spoils,” said Joseph with a twinkle in his eye, 
and thinking hard as he pronounced the 
words. 

The three men whistled a shrill, high note. 

“But, you have it all. You’re the only bloke 
who knows where it is !” Delwynn pursed his 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 95 


lips and repeated, accentuating the sounds — 
“whe — re i — t is!” 

He whirled in his chair and looked quizzi- 
cally at Joseph. 

Isaac interlaced his fingers and revolved his 
thumbs. 

“Do you mean to say, or have us think, you 
didn’t mean to take it?” There was a touch 
of resentment in Delwynn’s words. 

“No, sir; not a bit of it! I have the stufif, 
and that’s why I asked what to do with it!” 
Joseph meant exactly what he said, and he 
coined the phrases that time with true Amer- 
ican finality. 

“Oh, I beg your pardon; it was deuced 
stupid of me!” 

Isaac intervened and caused the heat to be- 
come dissipated with a laugh. 

Said he, “Go to the Messenger, confess our 
sins, and let her make restitution.” 

“Like — like — boys, pardon me,” said Joseph. 

Then came a general laugh. 

Once more the three men put their heads 
together in whispered conference, as they did 
that night at Monstoir castle. 


96 THE KING'S COMING 


\Vhen a half hour later they had finished, 
there was a different look on their counte- 
nances, — a resolve that marks out men and 
sets them apart from the common herd. 

“What time is it?” asked Joseph, hurriedly 
jerking out his watch. “Midnight. There’s 
time, if they’re all there, as you think, Del.” 

“I can get them, ivery mither’s son! if 
you’ll handle them — ^ten dirty, murderous 
villians !” He got up and adjusted his bowler 
hat. “Where shall it be, Joe? Charenton, St. 
Cloud, or Montmartre?” 

“Montmartre. Ike and I will be at the 
rendezvous. Coat collars turned, lower jaws 
in mask. Remember I” 

In five minutes, the white suits gave way to 
corduroys and sweaters ; three men left the 
hotel, separately from the three different 
exits; and to show that they had not forgot- 
ten, without a word of reminder, three tough- 
looking characters met at a pivot spot a few 
minutes later in front of La Madeleine. They 
passed with a wink, and the night’s work was 
begun. 

Joseph and Isaac entered the cellar under 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 97 


the rear of the cafe together. Observing the 
rules of The Secret League, not to hold con- 
versation until all thirteen were present, the 
two men drew black cloths over the lower parts 
of their faces and sat down at tables far from 
each other. 

Joseph took from the bosom of his drab- 
brown sweater a roll of paper, lit a candle, 
pulled down his cap, and wrote industriously 
while the band was assembling — coming in 
singly, or by twos and threes. 

At last he looked up and made a mental 
count. 

‘‘Treize,” he said. 

"Pourqiioif pourquoif pourquoi?" came in 
interrogation from various parts of the dimly 
lighted room. 

Joseph pronounced the final part of the 
pass-word : 

"‘Pourquoi pas?'" 

Everyone gave attention as the leader 
arose. 

He said in bad American French : 

“The spoils of our two years’ operations are 
safely hidden in a half dozen places, in differ- 


98 THE KING’S COMING 


ent countries, intact, untouched. We three 
have lived on our own money and the sum 
given by the French commander for the rescue 
of Ballou’s army corps,” 

“While we have had to subsist by our 
craft!” said a disgruntled member in bitter- 
ness. “And where is your Belgian compact ?” 

“As stated in our last meeting late in the 
fall, we destroyed it when near capture on the 
French border,” Joseph added. “At that 
meeting we agreed not to operate as a League 
for a year, or until things blew over.” 

“Gredin! Gredin!” (Scoundrel! scoundrel!) 
came from several guttural throats. 

“The spoils are intact.” 

“Mais oui! mais oui?” asked two heavy-set 
fellows on his right. 

“Where?” continued Joseph, unmindful of 
their insinuations. “I have their hiding places 
written down here on these sheets of paper. 
Here is a detailed list and exact directions 
where and how to find everything.” 

“Where have you three been keeping your- 
selves these months?” asked one frightful 
looking Apache. 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 99 


It dawned upon the three Aides that they 
had been suspected of absconding with the 
fruits of the League. But the question made 
them happy — their disguise was evidently 
quite perfect. 

Joseph made no reply, but proceeded, feeling 
his way and watching ten turbulent, dangerous 
men at the same time. After numerous flat- 
tering periods and appeals to them as French- 
men to become patriotic and support the new 
France, grunts of maliciousness convinced 
him that boldness could alone succeed, and he 
blurted out: 

“We three, your organizers and leaders, 
propose restitution!” 

Delwynn and Isaac swung to his side. In- 
stantly three automatic pistols covered the 
Apaches, some of them having crouched with 
drawn knives, and some checked in reaching 
for their guns! 

Hissing, snarling curses came from all 
sides. One hollow-eyed, bearded demon ap- 
proached defiantly, with outstretched hands 
for the papers. 


100 THE KING’S COMING 


“Give them to him, treacherous dogs, or we 
rush you.” 

Delwynn lowered his pistol on the fellow 
who came. 

There was a moment of wrath gathering 
before the rush. 

The door opened with a slight squeak. The 
storm averted, men jumped quickly to face 
the calm, collected Prefect of Police! 

Bolinbroke picked up the papers on the 
table. 

“Do not destroy them,” said the Prefect. 
“It is useless. There are twenty policemen in 
the cafe above, and ten at the rear door. Sub- 
mit quietly; it will go better with you.” He 
stamped his foot and the doors began to open. 

“Give me the papers.” 

“Not until you know the intent of this 
rendezvous.” 

“We know the intent,” replied the Prefect 
with a dry grin. “For the past six months you 
have been committing thefts in many places.” 

“It is quite clear then,” said Joseph confi- 
dently, “that you do not know your prisoners. 
Being outnumbered, we must submit. But if 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 101 


you will agree to a proposal ” Joseph 

deftly extracted a long, slender bottle from 
his inner coat pocket, and inserted the roll of 
papers in its large mouth, just dipping within 
— “and agree — and agree, I will tell you who 
we are and you will be famous this night, as 
a police chieftain. Otherwise, I shove this 
bunch of paper into the liquid, — it is quickly 
dissolved. You take us and we serve short 
terms for petty offenses that you are able to 
prove, and your opportunity for greatness 
vanishes.” 

“Do not enter. Close the door and wait,” 
commanded the Prefect, darting sizing-up 
glances at the baker’s dozen of masked and 
dark forms. “I saw you coming in one and 
two at a time. Had my suspicion been aroused 
sooner, I might have recognized some of you. 
C*est extraordinaire r 

“But you didn’t and you will never recog- 
nize us.” 

The Apaches had at first been barely re- 
strained from crying “treachery,” and bolting 
for liberty. Their suspicions were allayed, 
however, as the dialogue progressed between 


102 


THE KING'S COMING 


their leader and the Prefect, and they re- 
mained quiet, keenly interested in the out- 
come. 

“Vous etes Americain." 

"Wee, Mondsure, a la Nexv York!” 

"C'est extraordinaire !” 

“So extraordinary,” continued Joseph easily, 
“that I could telephone to the General in 
command of the Armies of France and he 
would come here immediately to my rescue.” 

"C'est extraordinaire!” 

"Wee, mondsure!” 

A smile played over the bronzed features of 
the Prefect. All France felt kindly toward 
Americans. 

“What then was the intent of your coming 
together?” 

“To persuade these men to make restitu- 
tion.” 

"C'est la verite!” affirmed a half dozen at 
once. 

“Have you the wherewithal to restore? — 
nothing missing or kept back?” 

“Nothing. When you entered, I pleaded 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 103 


with them to be loyal, patriotic citizens of 
France.” 

“But you were ready in arms. Is persuasion 
force?” 

“Sometimes. I had requested — those two 
and I — there was mutiny, and as you came, we 
were ready to persuade with lead.” 

*‘C’est la verite!” shouted the Apaches 
again. 

“What is the proposal ?” 

“That we hand you this list which contains 
detailed information of everything, what they 
are, and where found. You could have the 
last jot in your possession within a week. And 
then that you let us walk out free, giving us 
your word that no one will be followed.” 

The Prefect pulled at the corner of his 
mustache and thought. 

“You would then be free to claim personally 
all the glory — those without need not know of 
this compact. 

"Mondsure, you would be famous, tray 
famous !” 

Fame always has her appeal. 


104 THE KING’S COMING 


“A gentleman’s word, sir ; it is agreed. 
Depart as you will.” 

Then aside : "C’est bien, messieurs, partes.” 

Joseph turned to the Apaches, saying: 
“Leave quickly and scatter abroad in the city. 
See that no man steals again. Try to utilize 
your strong muscles in honest labor.” 

The three were left alone with the Prefect. 
Joseph passed over the paper, saying: 
“Promise me you will publish this list in the 
papers, that I may not be called upon to com- 
plain.” 

And he, Isaac, and Delwynn hurried out, 
unfettered, justified men. 

As they departed from the rear door, they 
heard the officer read aloud from the list: 
“Crown jewels of Belguim!” and heard him 
exclaim: "Sacre! je suis un grand homme en 
effetr 

A mouse could not have heard them enter 
the Grand Hotel. They did not see each other 
enter, for each man was for himself. 

Anyway, twenty minutes from the time they 
returned from Montmartre, when a hand 
reached stealthily and switched on the electric 


A DARK AND CLOSE CORNER 105 


lights, there were present, in their accustomed 
places, Joseph, Isaac and Delwynn! properly 
clothed in white and self-possessed and at 
ease ! 

Lord Stoddard, for he was none other, 
screwed his monocle into position, looked 
his companions over, and said, yawning and 
tapping his opened mouth like a dame after 
a tea party : 

“ Ton my word, if you awsk me, you do 
keep deuced quiet !” 


CHAPTER VII 


HUMANITY 

Q EWSPAPERS, magazines, periodicals, 
special editions, associated press ca- 
bles, Reuter’s, Havas — every news 
and publicity medium reported fully on the 
Paris triumph of the Messenger of Christ. 
In twenty-four hours afterward, by courtesy 
of modern facilities for spreading broadcast 
that which is novel, appealing or spectacular, 
the simple recluse, Marie, had become a char- 
acter of international note. “The Messenger” 
was on every tongue. The faithful of God’s 
elect, in every land, cried “The end is at hand ! 
We believe!” Fanatics and enthusiasts began 
to go to her; young girls flocked to her and 
begged to be allowed to follow ; and small and 
great hung on her words as if it were then the 
hour of dividing the flock. 

Then out of the hurrah of triumph came 
murmurings and disquieting notes. Church- 
men denounced the Messenger’s warning as 
fantastic and improbable. They said it was 


HUMANITY 107 


not in accordance with the Scriptures, and 
portended dangerous consequences if allowed 
to be heralded among ignorant peoples of 
earth. In other words, many of the professed 
followers of Christ chose to put different in- 
terpretations upon the prophecies and promises 
of the Bible. Unless the simple Marie’s fanatic 
claims were nipped in budding, great harm 
might come to Mother Church and her hon- 
ored traditions. The whole scheme was not 
only unbelievable, but carried in its wake the 
in-gathering of vast sums of money from the 
poor. Also, immediately, governments took 
notice. Just after the World War they were 
nervous, and anxious to satisfy the populace. 
If a huge campaign were permitted to stir up 
sore and bleeding nations in preparation for 
the final judgment, where would it all end? 
How could international congresses proceed to 
sane settlements of vexing questions? States- 
men cried against further disturbances, and 
especially one that threatened to twang a 
popular cord and draw millions of followers. 

On top of these echoes from the Messenger’s 
first public appearance came the news that 


108 


THE KING’S COMING 


Annette Didon, the healed bird wooer, had 
died. Paris newspapers wailed that the inno- 
cent, deformed creature had not been cured at 
all, but hypnotized, misled, and the strain had 
killed her. According to these articles, the 
public had been deceived. They asked in that 
inflammable, insinuating way of newsprint, 
“What will happen if irresponsible persons 
are permitted to impose upon credulous audi- 
ences?” 

Paris stood still for a whole day and whis- 
pered. At night the underworld congregated 
in angry crowds about the Grand Hotel, shout- 
ing menaces to the Messenger and her Aides. 
The police scattered the people to skulk in their 
dark alleys. And the next day the papers, 
cables, etc., spread the dash of cold water to 
every corner of the globe. As usual, these 
reports were exaggerated. The Messenger, 
according to some of these special cables 
printed in New York and elsewhere, had 
dared to show herself on the hotel balcony and 
acknowledge her duplicity with three unknown 
men to gull the public out of immense sums 
of money! 


HUMANITY 109 


And as always, everywhere, men dismissed 
the incident with the bored comment: “An- 
other fake blown up!” 

The Grand Hotel’s management politely 
requested the propagandists of His Second 
Coming to seek other quarters. Bolinbroke 
and Stoddard protested, but the director was 
adamant. He assured them that no personal 
affront entered into the demand. The board 
of managers had decided — there were possi- 
bilities of property destruction by riots; that 
the hotel trade might be affected. “No,” said 
the director smiling blandly, “it is a beautiful 
lady you have — and the gentlemen, no, there 
is no objection, but the hotel must have the 
rooms.” Accordingly a temporary apartment 
was taken on Boulevard Haussmann, and the 
shift made as quietly as possible. 

For it must be admitted that the three Aides 
read forebodings in the hubbub that resulted. 
They were not clear in their minds just what 
course to pursue; consequently a place of 
seclusion for a few days might not be amiss. 
Besides, they could not afford to fight too 


no THE KINGS COMING 


much in the open — some of their past manipu- 
lations might not be entirely forgotten. 

During those first days on Boulevard Hauss- 
mann, conferences between Marie and the 
Aides went on continuously — the next move 
had to be determined. The Messenger was as 
one dazed. She could not understand the 
opposition. Poor Annette’s death shocked 
her; the ugly untruths printed about her and 
the mission caused her to weep. 

“But, my dear Messenger, you are perfectly 
certain about your convictions?” Bolinbroke 
asked the question to rouse her from a fit of 
convulsive sobbing. 

“Yes. And I did precisely what my Voices 
told me to do. They said: ‘Go to Paris and 
announce His Second Coming in a large public 
meeting. After that, we will show you what 
to do.’ ” 

Stoddard was quick to seize upon the un- 
certainty in her instructions. 

“Of course, you have been told to proceed to 
other cities and announce His Second Com- 
ing?” 


HUMANITY 111 


“No; my Voices have not spoken. I am 
wondering if my work is finished.” 

“But The Book of Life” put in Bolinbroke, 
amazed. “Surely you asked us to make other 
volumes and procure signers?” 

“Yes, yes; that is your work. My Voices 
approve it, but I am as yet uninstructed what 
is expected of me. I cannot go further until 
I am told.” 

Eppstein cleared his throat. In a sort of 
panicky helplessness the three men looked from 
one to the other. 

Bolinbroke essayed to handle the delicate 
situation. 

“But if you are certain of your convictions 
— and the fifteen thousand who heard you in 
the hall could not doubt you — surely you want 
to give your message to all mankind. You are 
called to proceed from country to country, 
city to city, village to village, and warn the 
people.” 

“Aide Joseph, my convictions are verities. 
They are as real to me as my hands. My 
mission w'as to announce His Second Coming. 
That I have done. The papers have circled 


112 THE KING’S COMING 


the globe with my announcement. How do I 
know but that my mission is fulfilled? My 
instructions were explicit. ‘Go to Paris and 
announce His Second Coming in a large pub- 
lic meeting. After that, we will show you 
what to do.’ Perhaps that is all — my Voices 
may tell me to return to Chateau Monstoir. 
Who knows?” 

“But ” 

“There is no argument, Aide Joseph. I am 
pained that the world is rejecting my an- 
nouncement. That I cannot help — I made it 
and warned people to prepare. I cannot do 
more until I am told. I am simply the agent 
of my Lord. Who should expect that He will 
labor with rebellious humanity as He did in 
Palestine? Who may not say that He desired 
me to make the simple announcement, and that 
He, when the time comes, will appear as a 
mighty and just King to take charge of this 
world? Why is it necessary for Him to plead 
and beg people to believe? And then, may I 
inquire, why is it necessary for Him to do 
more than merely announce that He is com- 
ing?” 


HUMANITY 113 


Her manner was calm and collected. She 
assumed nothing. Her work, as she clearly 
understood it, had been done. And for aught 
she knew, Marie d’Estanger was to be hence- 
forth as other women. 

Eppstein asked: 

“When is His Second Coming to be?” 

“I have not been told.” 

“I noticed in your address at the Hall you 
made no statement as to time.” 

“My instructions gave me no time. The 
World War was referred to by my Voices as 
‘The Beginning of Sorrows.’ I have no right 
at this time to say to people His Second Com- 
ing will be next year or five hundred years 
hence.” 

“Um!” exclaimed Stoddard, adjusting his 
monocle and looking Marie over from head to 
foot. “That is a bit indefinite, if you awsk 
me!” 

At this awkward moment, the maid came in 
to say that government agents wished to 
speak to the four. And without waiting for 
permission to enter, three important gentle- 
men stalked into the room. 


114 THE KINGS COMING 


“You will pardon us, sirs and the fair Made- 
moiselle, but our business is insistent and we 
shall be brief and then away.” 

“Be seated,” said Bolinbroke stiffly. 

The officials sat down. They proceeded to 
throw about themselves all the mystery usually 
assumed by men entrusted with secret service 
work of governments — such moments, as this 
one, when about to issue orders, are sweet- 
meats to be tasted while their official impor- 
tances are functioning. 

The spokesman, a sour, military product, 
said, after the preliminary mesmeric per- 
formances : 

“We are commissioned by five governments 
to caution you to refrain from assembling 
large audiences to listen to excitable propa- 
ganda. If you will disperse and attend to the 
ordinary affairs of life, our governments will 
forget you. They are busy with world affairs, 
and will brook no spectacular stuff calculated 
to mislead the people. Our advice is : ‘Move 
on.’ If you persist, why, the government’s 
dragnet will have to reach for you. Good 
day !” 


HUMANITY 115 


It amounted to an ultimatum. There was 
a swirl in the air of the room as the person- 
ages blasted themselves out with the farewell 
“Good-day.” A smell of stale cigar smoke 
lingered for awhile — as a nausea to check 
healthy thought. It was as though the four 
had been caught and fixed by that terrible gas, 
which at one time had been credited with the 
power of killing instantly whole herds of cattle 
— or men — so that they remained dead in the 
posture attained before the dreadful silencer. 
The three Aides’ watches were ticking; the 
Messenger’s eyes rested on Stoddard. No 
one ventured to speak. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE VOID 


'HORTLY after the visit of govern- 
\ ment agents, the following advertise- 
ment appeared in several Paris 


papers : 


“If those persons who signed The Book of 
Life will call at the Bureau of the Prefect 
of Police, Hotel de Ville, during the week 
beginning Monday, the 20th, sums contributed 
to His Second Coming fund may be claimed.” 


No one asked questions; it is probable that 
few cared to demand the return of money. 
The thing had happened, and, as usual, when 
authorities step in, people prefer to be busy 
elsewhere. 

Marie received her five thousand francs 
from Police Headquarters. There were also a 
number of packages of Bank of France notes 
delivered to her personally, without names of 
donors or other identifications enabling her to 



THE VOID 117 


escape these gifts and importunities of a 
swarm of curious and good-intentioned people. 
She then disappeared, 

Bolinbroke and Eppstein, at her request, 
had already taken the sensible view and left 
Paris, subject to call. Lord Stoddard refused 
to leave her, so that when she went, it was 
necessary to avoid him and slip under his door 
a note which read : 

“My Dear Aide Delwynn: I deem it best 
for our cause for me to go away. . My Voices 
have not spoken, and I am going into retreat 
to await instructions. Until then, or such 
time as I choose, you will not hear from me. 

It would avail you nothing. If I remain, 
harm may result to His Message. My work 
for the present is accomplished. Adieu. 

Marie d’Estanger.” 

Stoddard perused the neatly penned sheet as 
one in a stupor. It was unbelievable that The 
Messenger of Christ could come and go like 
that. She had, somehow, entered his life. He 
was a changed man. He believed her message. 


118 THE KING’S COMING 


But, try as hard as he could, there was no way 
to reconcile the occurrences that had aroused 
the world, first, in universal acclaim, and then 
by criticism and falsehood rejecting the whole 
program as though it had not been made. 
Now, the originator had fled. The void was 
puzzling — it closed about him like a dark 
cloud. 

The American and the American Jew were 
practical men, no doubt, — Stoddard abused 
them, for inconstancy and lack of backbone. 
But they had vanished, and the Englishman 
knew nothing of their plans. At one time 
they believed; why could they not have stuck 
and evolved some feasible plan or means of 
holding the Messenger? If she spoke the 
truth — and Stoddard declared aloud in his 
hushed room that she did; that she was in- 
spired — then big men, brave men should insist 
upon spreading the warning to every man. 
Everyone, everywhere, should be given the 
opportunity of signing The Book of Life. 

These reflections, however, brought no 
comfort to the peer. The scheme had come 


THE VOID 119 


with a flare and failed like a candle snuffed 
out in a swamp. He tried to talk to some 
priests and ministers of the Gospel, but they 
waved him off with a smile or a frown. Their 
attitudes showed plainly that it was not a 
subject they could discuss. The business man, 
the man in the street, had no leisure for fan- 
tasies. And Lord Stoddard had few friends — 
he had not the courage to go to them. Who, 
then, would listen to the messages he carried 
buried so deep in his heart? — that eternity’s 
call in which none could shake his faith? 

For days after Marie departed, the monocled 
Englishman wandered through the streets of 
Paris as much alone as one lost in the Sahara 
Desert. No man looked at him; no woman 
gave him more than a cold glare of the eye. 
Mankind strove to appease hunger and thirst. 
Bibles lay in millions on center tables un- 
opened. Somehow, as he walked aimlessly 
about, he began to count himself out of things 
generally — a man who had caught the light 
and hidden it in his bushel ! 

And then, one morning, a letter came from 


120 THE KING’S COMING 


his solicitors stating that his uncle was dead, 
leaving him the estates and an independent 
fortune. He mused over the cryptic sentences 
that informed him of wealth and ease. There 
was no appeal in the glitter, no castles of re- 
nown which another imagination could have 
builded from the didactic lawyer’s written 
words. Stoddard would not take his seat in 
the House of Lords. The world to him had 
ceased for the moment. The riches were his 
— as a matter of course; he should go over 
and take formal possession. Beyond that, the 
void answered nothing. 

The next day, shaved and clad in a new gray 
suit, with overcoat to match, the erstwhile 
Aide crossed at Dover and made his way by 
train to London. As the shores of Calais 
dimmed, he felt a pang at his heart. It 
seemed to be the last of Marie. While staying 
on in Paris and searching for her in vain, and 
making trips to Chateau Monstoir to view its 
tangled, deserted ruins, he made himself be- 
lieve that a subtle swish of her spirit remained 
with him ; but when the French coast was lost 
in the haze, and he passed quickly to the white 


THE VOID 121 


cliffs of Dover, then to the green fields of 
England, the clutch in his breast was tightened, 
and its grip became steely cold. 

The void in his breast ached, because of its 
emptiness. His memory reconstructed the 
scenes of Chateau Monstoir, and ended when 
he left France. His soul struggled within him 
for expression — his spirit would not down. 

In London during several succeeding weeks. 
Lord Stoddard walked as one in a dream, as 
far as the city and people were concerned. He 
possessed all his faculties, but lived within him- 
self. Years before he had gone out of his own 
set at home — his relatives were now only dis- 
tant cousins who stood aloof, remembering 
him no more. His solicitors in Basinghall 
Street sufficed for contact with worldly men, 
and he found pleasure in pursuing his own 
thoughts. 

As time ran on ceaselessly, Stoddard began 
to realize that his meditations were reorganiz- 
ing his inner consciousness. From being an 
outcast and leading a life of non-religious 
practices, he was coming into a new existence 
in which God and religion formed the major 


122 THE KING’S COMING 


premises. He felt his regeneration. When 
he had declared his conviction, in Paris, after 
The Messenger’s triumph, he meant it with all 
his mind, heart, and strength. And the void 
into which he strayed after the strange isola- 
tion, was proving to be but the cleansing of 
storage space, to make way for the installation 
of new machinery and the charging of power- 
ful batteries against a call for activity. 

With the awakening of this realization, he 
turned sorrowfully to the world and its peo- 
ples. Something cried out within him that 
they were being cheated ; that the Messenger’s 
warning was one of peace, not destruction, and 
even though His Second Coming, as promised, 
would not take place for ten years, fifty years 
— or five hundred centuries, — the world 
should have had the message faithfully deliv- 
ered ; — The Book of Life signed. Why should 
mere men — newspapers, governments and 
their agents — interfere, saying: “We deny 
hope and salvation to earth?” 

In this state of transition, Stoddard fitted 
up an apartment in Kensington Gardens, with 
everything his refined tastes could suggest for 


THE VOID 123 


comfort and independence, and brought there 
a wonderful library of histories, biblical 
studies, sermons, theological treatises, and 
religious literature. He made a point of get- 
ting into the confidences of prominent minis- 
ters and priests, and discussed with them 
religion in all its phases. He studied in his 
apartment, searching diligently the prophecies 
and histories of Christianity. But along with 
the best of these efforts at reaching out for 
truth and knowledge, he experienced the com- 
plete, satisfying conversion of himself to faith 
in God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. He had 
been convinced by Marie the Messenger; now 
he had developed belief in a personal Savior, 
and with these regeneratory evolutions had 
come love and charity. 

The void was filled. Delwynn Stoddard, 
Lord Stoddard, became a full-blooded man 
again, with his keen sense of humor and his 
evenly poised appreciation of life and its joys 
and woes. 

There were two things missing in the hope- 
ful future ahead : the incomplete story of His 
Second Coming and Marie d’Estanger. What 


124 THE KINGS COMING 


would he not give to find her? What might 
have been the story of Marie’s pageant through 
the world? 

Every investigation agency and every 
detective bureau which money could employ 
in London and Paris had been set to work to 
find Marie. They were to proceed secretly, 
and keep at it steadily until news of her was 
obtained. 

With these organizations settled down to 
the task, Stoddard turned his attention to the 
story that might have been. He pondered 
over it, and brooded about it, until finally he 
resolved to imagine the story of His Second 
Coming, and write it out as it might have 
happened had the Messenger, Bolinbroke, 
Eppstein, and he, proceeded to the end with 
the plans they had perfected. The idea got 
hold of him and he wrestled with it day and 
night. He searched the Scriptures and re- 
called every word Marie had ever uttered on 
the subject. 

When his facts, culled from inspired writ- 
ings, and Marie’s prophecies, were committed 
to paper. Aide Delwynn began to write his 


THE VOID 125 


fictional story, taking up the situation where 
it stood in life just before opposition and the 
authorities interrupted. 

On a table in Stoddard’s study was displayed 
the original volume of The Book of Life, 
which he had rescued from the police. The 
other four volumes were also in his possession, 
carefully packed in a wooden case and stored 
in the trunk room. 

The consecrated peer chose as his novel’s 
title: "'His Second Coming; the Completion of 
a Story Rudely Interrupted.” 

In the chapters that follow. Lord Stoddard’s 
book will be copied in full and incorporated in 
this work. 


CHAPTER IX 



HUMAN INTEREST 

[ARIE D’ESTANGER had proclaimed 
in a great public hall, in Paris, the 
Second Coming of Christ The mes- 
sage which electrified fifteen thousand people 
in her presence, was cabled to all parts of the 
world. It seized the imagination of men. 

“The hum and buzz of humanity then began. 
Its hunger for that clearer knowledge of 
Christ, more intimate revelation, the closer to 
home notion, forced instantaneous rejoicings 
and a ready state of susceptibility. The 
multitude which did not believe by hearing 
and reading, had their curiosities set a-tingle, 
and they were quite willing to go along and 
listen. In fact, hundreds of these doubters, in 
far-ofif corners of the universe, took train and 
ship and began to travel toward the Messenger 
—merely to go and see. 

“The thing had twanged a popular cord, at 
an opportune moment, and humanity — every- 
where — was quite set upon end — to listen. 


HUMAN INTEREST 127 


Even the international wranglings over treat- 
ies, boundary lines, and equitable laws of seas, 
were secondary matters to the masses. They 
were tired of hearing about England, France, 
Germany, Russia, United States, autocracies, 
empires, military madness — they wanted to 
hear about His Second Coming. 

“In Paris, the civil authorities were put to it 
to maintain order in the streets. All stirring 
events in the past were outdone by this miracle 
in their midst. Crowds of excited people 
marched with banners. Thoroughfares and 
boulevards leading to the Grand Hotel were 
choked with human beings, who were hoping 
to get one look at Christ’s forerunner. The 
churches were jammed with men and women 
who prayed continually for deliverance. The 
French imagination was aflame; native impetu- 
osity and enthusiasm were driving them into 
a veritable religious revolution. 

‘‘The Book of Life had to be removed from 
the hotel to the Hall where the beginning had 
started. It took a small army of clerks to 
handle the details connected with the signings 
and the money — no longer an object, but liter- 


128 THE KING’S COMING 


ally forced upon the management in astound- 
ing volume. The unique idea — The Book of 
Life, what it stood for, the first chance for all 
faiths and beliefs to be united without sub- 
scribing to a lot of superfluous dryrot, seized 
upon humanity’s imagination in every nation 
and kingdom in the world. Cabled inquiries 
came from America, India, South America, 
Africa, Australia, Japan — when would The 
Book of Life be available in those countries 
for signature? Could a volume be entrusted 
to a representative and sent for immediate 
use? 

“The Messenger of Christ in daily confer- 
ence with her Aides, where she displayed won- 
derful knowledge, judgment, and foresight — a 
master mind — advised in great earnestness : 

“‘Get The Book of Life signed! By all 
means, get it signed. Make a hundred vol- 
umes instead of five ! Increase the pages in it 
— ^use strong thin paper, so that each volume 
will hold five millions of names. If a hundred 
volumes be not sufficient, get enough — any 
number of volumes I’ 

“Additional volumes were ordered at once, 


HUMAN INTEREST 129 


for the signing went on day and night, without 
interruption. 

“It was in those days — for this topsy-turvy 
stirring up did not take weeks nor months after 
the Messenger’s appearance in the hall — that 
the Aides, in conference, themselves awoke to 
a full realization that they had been snatched 
as brands from the burning and had greatness 
thrust upon them. The most gigantic religious 
organization, to include all churches, to reach 
all humanity, must be put together and admin- 
istered. Problems of ways and means — prob- 
lems for brains, executive ability, tact, diplo- 
macy, were stupendous and could not wait. 

“But Bolinbroke could organize and man- 
age; Lord Stoddard was a born diplomat, and 
believed he could handle church dignitaries 
and Governments — he foresaw many troubles 
with these functions of civilization — and Epp- 
stein could handle the millions and millions of 
money. These men that night on the battle 
front, at Chateau Monstoir, had stumbled 
into the maelstrom of usefulness. 

“While they were working out an organi- 
zation, and sitting under the counsel of the 


130 THE KING’S COMING 


Messenger, Stoddard often repeated dry, 
philosophical sayings that kept the human 
point of view close to divine requirements. 
One of his cardinal principles was, he said: 
‘The conclusion of William Hodge, in the 
play, ‘The Man from Home.’ Jolly good, you 
know. Strictly American, — at the time, 
wouldn’t have been popular abroad, but that 
doesn’t matter — I wish you had seen it. This 
tall, slouchy American Hodge — ’Gad! he was 
droll and funny. Didn’t have any personal 
knowledge of other peoples. All of a sudden 
he was obliged to go to Italy to look awfter 
a ward who was about to pay seven hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars, or some bally sum, 
to marry a duke. Well, Hodge got terribly 
messed up with titled gentry — English, Ital- 
ian and Russian, — when someone, suggested 
he’d better chuck it and go home. He made 
some facetious remark about going over the 
Rubicon, once you’ve started, and then he said 
he reckoned that people were about the same 
in Pekin as in Kokomo, Indiana!’ Stoddard 
thus insisted that this campaign was for 
humanity in all its forms, and that ever 3 rthing 


HUMAN INTEREST 131 


must be bent and curved and fashioned to 
serve humanity. People in their inclinations, 
instincts, values, virtues and frailties were 
about the same in Pekin as in Kokomo — and 
no different in Paris and Berlin; yes, the frills 
were different. But he knew Christ was com- 
ing. He believed it as stoutly as did the Mes- 
senger, and he insisted again that then was 
humanity’s chance. The world up to that 
time had existed primarily for kings, kaisers, 
presidents, congresses, parliaments, dumas, 
reichtags, armies and political jobs. Human- 
ity was certainly entitled to ‘an inning,’ — 
BoHnbroke added aside from the stupendous 
load that was making him perspire. 

“ ‘It is completed !’ announced BoHnbroke on 
the sixth day. 

“ ‘Yes,’ said the Messenger, ‘the organiza- 
tion as planned, will suffice to advance the 
knowledge of His Coming.’ 

“‘All except the headquarters,’ suggested 
Isaac. ‘That’s now most important.’ 

“‘He’s perfectly right,’ agreed Aide Del- 
wynn. 


132 


THE KING’S COMING 


“‘What — where do you suggest?’ asked 
Joseph. 

‘The Prophet Micah wrote: 

“ ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 
yet out of thee shall He come forth.’ 

“Eppstein bowed his head and waited. 

“Lord Stoddard adjusted the inevitable 
monocle, and said: 

“ ‘Bethlehem is the place, my dear Messen- 
ger. For humanity’s sake, establish head- 
quarters there at once. Imagine the appeal! 
This is serious business we are in — awfully 
serious, but, ’pon my word, if you awsk me, 
sentiment must be considered and humanity 
cuddled.’ 

“Bethlehem was selected without discussion. 
There could be no other place. 

“Next, Aide Joseph Bolinbroke opened the 
cause, full-swing, when he coolly announced: 

“ ‘For humanity’s sake, for the speeding up 
of success, to further the department for the 
Return of Israel, and that the World may have 
a mark, a monument, to which they may lift 


HUMAN INTEREST 133 


up their eyes, I advise the immediate building 
of The Lord's Memorial Temple, in Bethlehem 
of Judea!’ 

‘The Messenger, who presided, expressed 
much delight. ‘Such is in accord with my 
instructions 1’ she declared. 

“Of course, then, there could be no argu- 
ment against immediate action, and the small 
city of Bethlehem was again selected, and the 
decree passed to build the Temple. 

“At this point, the sitting of the Four — 
which might properly have been called, the 
Council for Humanity — became elated by joy- 
ous, zealous excitement. 

“The Messenger should select, instruct, and 
send forth seventy disciples, and each of them 
should take to the district assigned, a volume 
of The Book of Life. These disciples, as far 
as possible, should be chosen from churches of 
all denominations, and they, in spreading the 
mission of the Messenger, should not attack or 
infringe upon any doctrine, or creed, and they 
should be strictly forbidden to teach any new 
doctrine. 

Joseph Bolinbroke, head of the organiza- 


134 THE KING’S COMING 


tion to warn and unify the world against the 
time of His Second Coming, should supervise 
the entire work, create departments, arrange 
for the Messenger’s subsequent movements, 
and make all machinery work towards success. 
He should take up his post in Bethlehem. 

“Lord Stoddard should be at the head of the 
Department of Diplomatic Service, be provided 
with assistants, since he should be always pres- 
ent with the Messenger. 

“Isaac Eppstein was Banker and Finance 
Manager. He must, however, be chief of two 
departments : Banking and Department for the 
Return of Israel. He then and there named 
the subheads of both these departments : Jacob 
Oppenheim, of New York, Secretary for 
Israel; Benjamin Rothschild, of London, 
Secretary of Finances. These gentlemen 
were summoned to Paris for consultations, 
prior to Eppstein’s departure for Bethlehem. 

“The spacious new hall, in Paris, with its 
offices, equipment, etc., was taken over for 
temporary headquarters. Here, during the 
ensuing weeks, the Messenger addressed 
multiplied thousands, healed the sick, in- 


HUMAN INTEREST 135 


structed her disciples — ^young priests and 
ministers who came, some voluntarily, some at 
her request, from many lands. Then, from 
those fair and cultured young girls who came 
from France, England, Spain, Russia, Italy, 
Germany, the United States, and other coun- 
tries, that summer, Marie chose twelve who 
constituted her Retinue of Ladies. She also 
added twelve young men — veterans of the late 
World War, to be Soldiers in Waiting. 

“And it was there, in the turmoil of legions, 
that the rough corners were smoothed by 
Bolinbroke and his chiefs, and the machinery 
made ready for advance upon the wondering 
world. The Messenger got the reins in hand ; 
the Aides — managers — constructed their de- 
partments; the Retinue and attendant company 
found their niches. Humanity was soon to 
have the chance of ages. 

“Out of this, the Chosen Host, to announce 
His Second Coming, there emerged the Mes- 
senger’s sweet singer — now the wooer of men’s 
souls — who became soloist to melt and in- 
fluence human hearts. God modeled her throat 
and touched her vocal cords and gave her the 


136 THE KING'S COMING 


magic wand of song. From that day she stood 
before audiences, at the opening, beside the 
Messenger, and poured out of her heart such 
music as no man had ever heard. Crowding, 
rushing, hardened, starved humanity came, the 
Sweet Singer opened the rusty doors of their 
inner selves, and the Messenger made them see 
and hear. 

“Second to the Messenger, Helna was the 
most beautiful young woman in the company. 
She had come from Nowhere — as far as she 
knew ; but out of nothing, God is able to create. 
He made of her a small, bewitching brunette. 
Not being hampered by likenesses to relatives. 
He fashioned her to embody in her dainty per- 
son everything that men and women expect to 
find in perfect, innocently coquettish beauty. 
The Messenger was the grand, inspiring, lovely 
beauty that pointed directly to heaven. Helna, 
with her black hair, slightly darkish round, 
baby face, blushing red with the elixir of life, 
crimson-tinted lips about a small laughing 
mouth, eyes brown and soft and as loving as 
those of her benefactress, features prettily 
modified and set to reflect sweetness and joyous 


HUMAN INTEREST 


137 


mirth, and with all, a body, made by God, to 
show what he could do. Helna Didioni was 
as a dark diamond set to sparkle in the Ret- 
inue of God’s own Messenger. 

“And she was a woman and not a girl; she 
was human not divine. 

“Lord Stoddard, the able, wise, regenerated 
humanitarian, more than once put his monocle 
in place and looked Helna over to make sure 
that she was human. His prejudices of always 
looking to family, to education, to any number 
of things elevated by false standards, bluffed 
him off and made him afraid to think of Helna. 

“Once, when struggling in these meditations, 
a saying of a famous British jurist, that had it 
not been for marriages with actresses, dancers, 
peasants, and what not, the blue blood of Eng- 
land’s families would have become impover- 
ished, ran through his mind, and he smiled. 
After all, she was human and he was human. 

“After that day, the Chief Escort of the 
Messenger was seen often with Helna. At 
times, there was a worried expression on his 
face, when he thought of her. But in his 


138 THE KING’S COMING 


dreams, he was ever arguing with his unde, 
saying: 

“ ‘I know she’s human. That she’s a spirit 
is bally rot. She’s one of the innumerable army 
of humanity.’ ” 


CHAPTER X 


0 


PESTILENCE AND FAMINE 

'ARLY in October, when the leaves 
were golden, and the hush of death 
gripped nature, the Messenger and her 
company made a rapid tour of France. Her 
coming among the people was everywhere a 
time of rejoicing. Whatever the rest of the 
world might do with her and the Message of 
Warning, she could always be certain that 
Paris, Havre, Lille, Marseilles, Lyons — all 
France had accepted her. 

“From Bordeaux, the company went to 
Madrid, at the urgent request of the Queen of 
Spain, for a fearful pestilence of a strange 
sickness had fallen upon the capital. Ten 
thousand deaths were occurring daily, and 
would ‘The Messenger of Christ come speed- 
ily,’ the Queen’s telegram ran, ‘and stay the 
awful plague?’ 

“The Messenger found the city in mourning 
and sorrow. Fifty thousand of its population 
had died in a week; two hundred thousand 


140 THE KING’S COMING 


more cases of the disease that turned the trunk 
of the body black, were reported in the 
metropolis alone. The pestilence was spread- 
ing throughout the provinces, and threatened 
destruction to the kingdom. 

“The royal family and a grand train of 
nobles and dignitaries met the Messenger at 
the station. It was early in the morning, and 
the dead were already being carried through 
the streets. Marie directed them to drive her 
immediately throughout the city, in the princi- 
pal streets, the avenues and boulevards, the by- 
ways and poor places. They did so, all the pro- 
cession following. As they proceeded, she 
stood in the automobile and prayed for the 
people. 

“By night all were healed in Madrid. Tele- 
grams came from the provinces stating that the 
pestilence had ceased. 

“All Spain was won by this miracle. No 
royal prince, no King of the long line, had ever 
enjoyed a greater reception in Madrid than the 
Messenger of Christ. Everything was thrown 
at her feet. She and her company of fifty, al- 
together, were entertained in the King’s 


PESTILENCE AND FAMINE 141 


palace. The city took a holiday, and there was 
great thanksgiving. 

”The Book of Life filled up rapidly — the 
Queen pledging that every one of her subjects 
should sign it. The King and Queen had 
already attached their signatures. 

“From Madrid to Barcelona, at every inter- 
vening station, thousands greeted the Deliverer 
of Spain. Barcelona gave a public feast. The 
big commercial city of more than a quarter of 
a million people turned its pockets out to the 
poor, and decorated itself as a bride. The 
Messenger’s progress through the streets had 
no parallel in history. The blind, the sick, the 
lame, and the afflicted of all kinds, crowded 
the sidewalks, crying unto her to heal them. 
Continuously she besought Christ to make 
them whole. He gave of His blessings with a 
free hand. No one was overlooked. And they 
called Her blessed. The populace went wild 
with joy. The hallelujahs of the saints 
sounded through that memorable night. 

“The next morning came reports that a 
grievous, nation-wide famine was closing in 
upon Italy. There had been a drought in Cen- 


142 THE KING’S COMING 


tral Europe, a complete failure of crops and 
vineyards in Italy, and the scarcity of foods in 
every land lessened the hope of getting relief. 
Also, Mount Vesuvius, the great Stromboli, 
and a number of extinct volcanoes were rum- 
bling deep in the bowels of the earth, making 
it quake. Would Italy be starved and con- 
sumed? Those were the grave questions that 
went up from Rome. 

“Barcelona — Spain — did not need the Mes- 
senger. They had seen and heard and be- 
lieved. She ordered a ship, and set out at once 
for Naples and Rome. 

“Before sailing, she sent telegrams, asking 
Spain and France to hurry foodstulfs to Italy. 
She also requested the leaders of England and 
Russia, then in attendance at the International 
Congress at the Hag^e, to take pity upon mil- 
lions of hungry people and open the blockade 
of the Dardanelles so that Russia’s wheat 
might come out to the world. Lord Stoddard 
sent a special deputation to the Hague to sup- 
port the Messenger’s appeal. 

“Thus before she and her company arrived 
in the Eternal City of Rome, ways and rneans 


PESTILENCE AND FAMINE 143 


were working together to relieve Italy. The 
government gave her thanks and handed her 
the keys to one of the palaces for her head- 
quarters during her stay in the land. 

“But Marie was saddened by news of dis- 
tress over the world. She had saved Spain and 
Italy, but scarcely had she settled in Rome, 
when the papers announced famines in India 
and China, threatening hundreds of millions. 
New York, Chicago, St. Louis, struggled with 
numerous plagues. New Orleans and San 
Francisco shook daily from earthquakes, like 
giants with the ague. Half of San Francisco 
was in ruins. One-third of Oakland was 
gradually sinking under the quakes, and would 
soon be below sea level. Misery, woe, starva- 
tion, fear, went up as a mighty cry to heaven. 

“It became impossible for the Mesenger to 
visit, at the same time, every center of horror. 
She must, therefor, be resigned, knowing it to 
form a part of the Lord’s handiwork in the ful- 
filling of His promises. Consequently, in 
Rome, she multiplied the number of her dis- 
ciples, and with the assistance of the General 
Staff, at Bethlehem, under Aide Bolinbroke, 


144 


THE KING’S COMING 


instituted a system of messages to her repre- 
sentatives in large cities over the globe to warn 
the people. 

“ ‘To flee from the wrath of God.’ 

“The disciples, numbering several hundred, 
were instructed to remind the careless, uncon- 
cerned thousands of millions that the world 
war, lately ended, pestilences, famines, and 
earthquakes, were, in the plain words of the 
Son of Man: 

“ ‘The Beginning of Sorrows’ 

“In those days of fear, a continuous stream 
of anxious, overwrought human beings poured 
into Rome. Hotels, apartments, pensions, 
houses, villas, overflowed with pilgrims. 
Europe turned her eyes to Rome. Ships from 
the south seas, through the Suez Canal, 
brought Hindoos, Brahmins, and Burmese; 
ships from the Atlantic brought Americans. 
Rome had never witnessed such days. The 
city tripled in population. Tents, rows and 
rows deep, flanked the Tiber above and below 
the capital. The Appian Way, the Coliseum 
grounds and ruins, the parks, the Seven Hills 
of Rome, were teeming with strangers speak- 


PESTILENCE AND FAMINE 145 


ing all languages. But the topic, the thought, 
was one: His Second Coming, 

“Cables, telegrams, letters, deputations and 
committees, overwhelmed the Pope asking his 
opinion of the Messenger. She was requested 
to visit the Vatican for a full audience with the 
Pope and the Holy See. Gladly she went and 
delivered her Message. The Pope replied to 
the Catholics of the world that he ‘found no 
fault with the Messenger of Christ.’ 

“His Holiness and all the members of the 
Vatican signed The Book of Life. 

“Enterprise and American ingenuity re- 
stored the Coliseum of the Caesars with wood 
and canvas to serve as the Temple of the Mes- 
senger of Christ for the winter* Thus the 
famous theatre of the Romans was made to 
span the centuries from the Christian era to 
announce His Second Coming. Arena and 
forum were put back in place; colonnades 
set up, tiers and tiers of seats made comfort- 
able to hold thousands; and the glamour and 
grandeur of the dead qmpire were resurrected 
by temporary shams to revive the spirit of 
superiority that emulated legions of forgotten 


146 THE KING^S COMING 


heroes. Here, once more, gathered the populace; 
the modern patricians, the rabble, the wretched, 
the happy ; some of all stations and nations of 
the earth to see — and as many as could — to 
hear Marie, the far-famed Messenger. The 
prophecy: ‘Thy gates shall be torn away and 
the Angel of the Holy One shall set foot on 
the ruins of thy tumbled columns’ was ful- 
filled. 

“Twice weekly, Wednesday and Sunday 
nights, she drove into the arena in a white car- 
riage, drawn by twelve white steeds, with her 
soldiers in waiting, also in white, walking each 
at the head of a horse. On the satin cushioned 
pavilion, in the center, her retinue of ladies 
awaited her under chaperonage of Lord Stod- 
dard, Chief Escort. In the second circling of 
the arena, in which she blessed the cheering, 
highly-elated crowds in the ancient tiers and 
boxes, the carriage halted by the pavilion, and 
the Chief Escort descended and aided the 
Queen of All Nationalities to mount to the only 
pulpit that had ever, in three thousand years, 
commanded the show place of Rome for glori- 
fying the Almighty God. And behold the 


PESTILENCE AND FAMINE 147 


modern gladiator! — a woman in soft, white 
raiment, come not to slay wild beasts Svho 
had not tasted flesh for three days,’ nor to cry, 
‘Oh, Rome 1 Rome ! Thou hast been a tender 
nurse to me’ but to heal the sick, cleanse the 
leprous heart, and proclaim that He on high, 
having fulfilled his sojourning while the world 
was given time in twenty centuries to learn and 
know Him, would come in great glory, amid 
the boom of shooting meteors and the trum- 
petings of angels, to judge the living and the 
dead ! 

“Rome sat still and listened. In the words 
of Julius Caesar, she came, she saw, she con- 
quered !” 


CHAPTER XI 


“calm springtime” 



HEN the earth was young, God said; 


“ 7 do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall 
be a token of a covenant between me and 
the earth. And it shall come to pass when I 
bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 
shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remem- 
ber my covenant, which is between you and 
me and every living creature of all flesh.’ 

“Out from the fringe of winter’s cloud of 
anxiety and misery, gleamed the bow of spring. 
Colors of life peeped from every hedge and 
meadow. The people took heart. Had not the 
Messenger assured them that the earth would 
remain, even beyond the judgment? They be- 
lieved. The everlasting covenant, that seed- 
time and harvest could not utterly fail, must 
be true, and they would turn again to fields and 
vineyards and urge them by the sweat of the 
brow to yield their increase. 

“Mutterings of volcanoes ceased. The 


CALM SPRINGTIME 149 


quakings of cities stopped. A great calm 
spread over the land and the seas. Springtime 
had come — peace reigned once more, and did 
not parliaments of nations, and judges and 
rulers, of one accord, contemplate a remedy 
against holocausts and wholesale destruction? 

“The Messenger said from the Eternal City: 
‘There will be a calm now, that the people may 
sanely consider the glory that is to come. 
Watch, therefore, and keep your lamps 
trimmed and burning.’ 

“A lighter hue overcast the skies of hope. 
A bud here, a shoot there, gave assurances 
and even conviction. People quickly threw 
away sackcloth for wreaths and garlands of 
roses. 

“It pleased the Messenger in the last nights 
in the old Coliseum. She reminded the people 
that none of her warnings were gloomy ; 
‘that the Beginning of Sorrows’ meant the pre- 
parations for happiness and glory. ‘He shall 
come to judge the living and the dead.’ Repent. 
Believe and be among the happy living.’ 

“A few heard these sayings and pondered 


150 


THE KING’S COMING 


how they might be employed against the swell- 
ing tide of the Messenger’s popularity. 

“But Marie walked steadfastly and smiled 
in the world’s short respite hoping that Christ’s 
thoughtfulness in sending a warning by her 
might avert necessity for harshness towards 
mankind. 

“Was she not human? Did her setting 
apart for a service to men make her sexless, 
ethereal — unnatural? Not at all. Her re- 
sponsibilities were great; she and her aides 
were fast knitting the races of human creation 
into a stupendous, skillfully organized unity, 
without the use of new doctrine or creed. Be- 
lief in God was the slogan. Catholic, Jew, 
Hindoo, Brahmin, Protestant — all could accept 
that, and it did not alienate, or so much as 
slightly alfect their loyalty and devotion to 
church, whatever the dogma or denomina- 
tion. This organization radiating from Beth- 
lehem, with its constantly increasing network 
of efficiency and strength, the crowds that hung 
on her words, the demands for healings and 
comfortings, were all heavy, ponderously 
weighty; but her Voices were abiding, and she 


CALM SPRINGTIME 151 


could be a young girl still, and view the things 
of life with keen appreciation. 

“One misunderstanding among all peoples 
troubled Marie. Why should they look upon 
religion as long-faced, pious sorrow? Per- 
haps monks and preachers, saints and devotees 
had alike, from their own enforced personal 
view, misconstrued and misinstructed the nat- 
urally light-hearted and gay multitudes. It 
was not so in the Scriptures. Bring out the 
timbrels and harp — dance! make a feast unto 
the Lord! 

“No doubt, when He came. He would cor- 
rect misconceptions. Did He not play with 
little children and turn water into wine at the 
wedding? 

“Her work was growing; soon she must 
move on to the other great centers, but that 
last night in the Coliseum, when they were 
feasting, and she mingled for the first time in 
her life, unattended, among real, live folk, she 
would enjoy herself — catch the spirit of spring 
and hug it to her hungry, human heart. 

“In Chateau Monstoir, Marie had read of 
socials, banquets, and feasts, in scores of novels 


152 THE KING’S COMING 


— she had since her entry into her work seen 
millions together, but here in the Coliseum — 
the place hallowed by centuries of history and 
romance — was a real chance for her to taste 
of that for which something within her craved. 
For once, at least, she would act and feel as 
other people. 

“Lord Stoddard offered to go about with her. 

“ ‘No,’ she refused, smiling; ‘these are my 
people — they have been with me all winter. 
I’m just going to float myself about in this 
sea of men, women, and children.’ 

“He doffed his white-plumed head-dress and 
turned to a group of merry English girls. 

“Marie called back to him : ‘I shall come for 
you later.’ 

‘At your bidding, dear Messenger.’ 

“On and on she drifted from party to party, 
stopping to say a few words to each. Mrs. 
Paddington-Roose, of New York, fat and be- 
jewelled, proposed to show her about. 

“ ‘Oh, no; I prefer this trip among the people 
by myself — will pass this way again.’ 

“Also the Duchess of Kingston insisted upon 
going a short distance with her Messenger. 


CALM SPRINGTIME 153 


‘It is shocking to see you going about all alone !’ 
But Marie climbed all the difficult terraces she 
could, and very soon the good old Duchess 
puffed and wheezed for breath. ‘Oh, dear! 
dear!’ said she, taking refuge in the first box 
at hand; ‘you will have to go on without this 
old woman.’ 

“ ‘I’ll come back this way, dear,’ said Marie, 
as she ran ecstatically to the top row of the 
Coliseum — no one could see her, and giving 
vent to the desire as she expressed it, ‘Now, 
I’ll just fly to see how it feels,’ she came bound- 
ing into a tete-a tete knot of French maids, who 
discussed the doings of their employers. 

“And hither and thither the Messenger 
went, sipping of life, laughing with all manner 
of men and women. As she approached, they 
gave back in waves, courtesying low, but she 
heeded it not, and strove to make them feel at 
ease. 

“Twice she passed Lord Stoddard and 
laughed gayly — she was really having such a 
good time ! It intoxicated her to let herself go. 
There was pent up within her bosom the same 
desire for dress and friends and music that 


154 THE KING'S COMING 


makes pretty and dazzling most French girls, 
and that night, in innocent thought, with the 
well springs of happiness naturally and human- 
ly flowing, she went cheerily from group to 
group, nook to nook, arena to stalls, boxes to 
top, like a queenly white butterfly, and the 
thousands were graciously pleased to have the 
hem of her dress touch them in passing. Then, 
what they least expected happened ! The Mes- 
senger came back and spoke to them in their 
own language! Whatever conquests she had 
made in France and Spain, there were hun- 
dreds in Rome, that last night, who would re- 
member her with pride. ‘Why I talked with 
her. She pulled my little Johnnie’s nose!’ 

“In the arena several times, and again and 
again in the galleries, where people ate ices 
and lingered over their coffee, Marie passed 
and repassed a tall young man, handsome and 
strong and brave-looking, who seemed to be 
the lion of whatever group he happened to 
meet. She glanced at him finally, full in the 
face, and with a violent fluttering in her breast, 
hurried away as gracefully as she could, for 
he had caught her in her inquisitive rudeness. 


CALM SPRINGTIME 


155 


Her face grew crimson, and tears were near 
coming, when she remembered that he had not 
resented her stare — if a fleeting glimpse could 
be so formidably named. 

“Marie went on for a few minutes, chatting 
with everyone, trying to drown the voice of 
romantic girlhood that kept crying and plead- 
ing within: ‘Why think of it! He is just the 
hero you chiseled out in your own dear imagin- 
ation when you read St. Elmo.’ How dare she 
think of such things! — she, the Messenger of 
Christ ! Why must trouble come into her mind 
when she only wanted to be and feel free and 
happy with her people for one night? It could 
not be allowed. But after all, she was a fine, 
tender, glorious, humanly divine woman. ‘And 
why not?’ her Voice asked her then and there 
so sharply that she was startled. 

“Immediately she turned back and walked 
with modest discretion by him again, uncon- 
sciously trying to pretend to be interested in 
some children who threw bunches of paper 
over the seats; but actually looking ever so 
slightly and slyly at this great young man, who- 
ever he might he — the only hero of her dreams, 


156 THE KING’S COMING 


both in her sleeping and waking hours, in the 
old chateau under the hill, Beau le Due ! Once 
she knew he glanced after her, for she felt the 
same palpitating in her heart that she used to 
feel before she became famous. 

“ ‘My Lord, make me wise !’ the Messenger 
murmured to herself, and felt more at ease. 
Her Voices had reproved her for being dis- 
turbed — if her Lord would guard her in wis- 
dom, she might properly enjoy herself building 
castles again — ^just occasionally to keep alive 
her childhood memories. 

“Philosophising thus, she came upon Lord 
Stoddard. 

“‘Where have you been. Messenger?’ he 
asked airily — ‘I have seen you everywhere.’ 

“ ‘I’ve been everywhere. This is such a 
jolly throng of people.’ 

“ ‘And you do look animated, ’pon my 
word !’ 

“ ‘Climbing about over the place ’ 

“ ‘You are not tired?’ 

“ ‘No, Aide,’ she answered absent-mindedly, 
and her eyes wandered over the myriads of 
faces, looking for someone . 


CALM SPRINGTIME 


157 


“ ‘There he is !’ she said aloud. 

“ ‘Where?’ asked Lord Stoddard, apologetic- 
ally, believing he had not heard the first part 
of something she had said. 

“Marie knew then she had thought aloud, 
and became confused. 

“ ‘Where?’ her escort repeated to her re- 
lief, having entirely missed her off-guard re- 
mark and frailty — or naturalness. 

“ ‘Why, I wish to ask who that grand gen- 
tleman is down by the orchestra — way down 
there!’ She pointed to him as a schoolgirl 
might have done. 

“Stoddard took an annoyingly long time to 
screw in his monocle — she was afraid the gal- 
lant knight might get away. 

“ ‘You mean the chap who stands up like 
Grand Duke Nicholas?’ 

“‘Yes, yes; that’s the one — ^the handsome 
young man!’ 

“ ‘Oh ! that’s Lord Ronald-Davies, of Can- 
ada. He’s a ripping chap, too ! A soldier ! — he 
led the Canadians at Messines. He’s rich as 
twenty dukes, owns best part of Calgary and 
as much land as the whole of Middlesex. Be- 


158 THE KING’S COMING 


sides, his head’s jam-up with brains. Clean 
and white as a new silk handkerchief. Come ! 
that’s one peer you must know.’ 

“The Messenger allowed her Chief Escort 
to bundle her down along the steep incline, 
trying to think of something to say, as an 
antidote to compose herself. 

“‘Your Lordship, please!’ called Stoddard 
from the landing just above the orchestra. 

“The magnificent hero, who had been so 
copiously praised by the Aide and Escort, 
wheeled suddenly and searched every face. 

“ ‘I’d know that voice in Borneo, .Stoddard, 
but where are you?’ 

“ ‘Here, to the right.’ 

“ ‘How stupid of me !’ 

“Lord Ronald-Davies swung himself round 
the corner, in military strides, and mounted 
the stairs. 

“ ‘Allow me, your gracious Lordship, to 
present ’ 

“ ‘The greatest woman in the world to-day !’ 
Lord Ronald-Davies said. ‘It’s not necessary 
to tell me who she is — I’ve signed The Book 
of Life.’ 


CALM SPRINGTIME 159 


“ ‘Lord Ronald-Davies is just that way, dear 
Messenger. He will not suffer anybody to do 
anything for him — not even to give him an 
introduction.’ 

“ ‘But it was superfluous, Stoddard, to pre- 
sent the Messenger. I should have gone and 
presented my respects an hour ago — meant to 
do so before the crowd breaks up.’ 

“ ‘It is my delight to know you. Lord Ronald- 
Davies.’ 

“He bowed himself, and touched the tips of 
her fingers with his lips. 

“ ‘It is my debt, Most High Queen of His 
Second Coming.’ 

“The English peer and the Canadian peer 
and the Messenger walked slowly, descending 
the incline to the arena, and then on through 
the promenade to the other side. The Captain 
of her soldiers in waiting called to the Escort 
and he left, saying to Lord Ronald-Davies : 

“ ‘Stop in this box by the King and Queen. 
I shall come again.’ 

“Their majesties nodded graciously, and the 
Messenger aglow with a strange emotion — a 
memory, a dream come true, sat down with 
her hero. 


CHAPTER XII 


“opposition” 

H ORD STODDARD came and went sev- 
eral times. To Marie, Lord Ronald- 
Davies’s account of the broad wheat 
fields of Alberta was most interesting. As he 
talked on, she could see the tractors, the drills, 
the golden grain waving its heads; then the 
reapers and threshers. ‘How wonderful !’ she 
exclaimed at appropriate intervals. And how 
charmingly he talked — ^just like her hero of 
novel land ! 

“An hour later when it was time for the 
Messenger to bless the people, the Chief Escort 
came again. She and his brother lordship had 
no eyes or ears for the King and Queen, just 
above them. The Escort leaned against the 
railing a short distance away and looked on 
and wondered. 

“The captain of the soldiers in waiting en- 
tered the edge of the arena, at the head of 
six pairs of white horses, and blew three long 
blasts of the silver trumpet. 


OPPOSITION 161 


“ ‘Good-by,’ she said, extending her hand. 
‘The hour o£ midnight has come. Thank you 
so much for entertaining me.’ 

“ ‘Remember to command me, if I can be of 
service. I mean it,’ he added in great earnest- 
ness. 

“But she was gone. 

“The orchestra struck up Italy’s national 
air. The hum of conversation abated, and in 
a few minutes the ancient theatre of Empires 
was hushed and expectant. 

“The carriage and twelve, with the out- 
walkers, halted at the pavilion. Marie, the 
Messenger, came, stately and impressively, 
with her hand lightly resting on the arm of her 
Escort. 

“As she placed her slippered foot on the first 
step of the pavilion, to mount to the pulpit, the 
orchestra left off the martial strains, and began 
to play softly: ‘Rock of Ages.’ 

“Lord Ronald-Davies, beneath the King’s 
box, stood like a statue, with his eyes fasci- 
nated by the heavenly vision ! 

“She knew that he looked after her. From 


162 THE KING’S COMING 


that moment, she was to struggle with opposi- 
tions. 

“By the inexorable decree of perversity of 
man, though, the Messenger of Christ was to 
have to contend with other oppositions than the 
warrings with herself against the usual, nat- 
ural, God-given and God-blessed inclinations 
of life. She must fight opposition to her mes- 
sage of warning. 

“There was slowly, but surely, forming 
strong opposition in the churches. A few fat- 
salaried leeches foolishly imagined that the 
growing of The Book of Life meant the begin- 
ning of the end of the sway of the church. 

“Under guise of righteous indignation at the 
upsetting of the whole order of dignified wor- 
ship by a French maiden — who had visions — 
and her escort of pretty girls, chaperoned by 
one Lord Stoddard, several of these envious 
churchmen banded together to destroy, if pos- 
sible, what they deemed a menace to the world. 
Since she had already won and got signed up 
in The Book of Life practically all the Catho- 
lics of Southern Europe — and was making in- 
roads by tens of millions among other faiths — 


OPPOSITION 163 


the most obvious point of attack would be 
through the Catholics. If they could be in- 
duced to spew her out, a victory would be cer- 
tain. 

“The first thing they did was to appoint a 
secret committee of mixed churchmen to call 
on the Pope, in Rome. This movement settled 
upon, the committee quietly went to the news- 
papers for the purpose of starting a propa- 
gandic campaign. They were chagrined to 
find every journalist already signed up in The 
Book of Life! 

“ ‘Impossible !’ declared Mr. Brummell, 
chairman of the Committee for the Preserva- 
tion of the Dignity of the Church and State. 
‘It’s impossible that every newspaper should 
be in the hands of The Book of Life signers! 
Preposterous, my dear sirs !’ 

“His fellow committeemen, Henry Gooden- 
stall, of Edinburgh, and Peter Williams, of 
Philadelphia — he, Brummell, was from Lon- 
don — stared blankly at each other and waited. 

“ ‘It’s true,’ asserted Williams. ‘We three 
represent the wealthiest church interests in 
America and England, so our constituents 


164 THE KINGS COMING 


would indicate, and we have used every means 
at our command to locate a desirable paper un- 
touched by this fad of insanity. I tell you, 
neither in America nor in Europe is it to be 
found. That general manager Bolinbroke is 
the wisest and most able cunning man of the 
age.' 

“ ‘The Messenger is just as able, they tell 
me,’ said Henry Goodenstall. ‘They tell me 
she urges the man Bolinbroke to get The Book 
of Life signed up.’ 

“Brummell cleared his throat savagely. 
‘How many signers have they?’ 

“ ‘One hundred and twenty millions to-day 
— reported this morning.’ 

“ ‘One hundred, twenty millions !’ sputtered 
Brummell. ‘We must meet the Catholic half 
of the Committee at twelve o’clock sharp !’ 

“ ‘They were at the Hotel Continental, in 
Paris. 

“ ‘The signers will greatly increase now,’ 
continued Williams. ‘Heretofore, they have 
worked with an average of three hundred 
volumes in the field. Now the Messenger has 


OPPOSITION 165 


one thousand disciples, and Bolinbroke has put 
a volume in each disciple’s charge.’ 

“ ‘And the money !’ gasped the Scotchman, 
Goodenstall, folding his hands in pious protest. 

“ ‘Yes, money!’ took up the practical Ameri- 
can, Williams. ‘They say The Book of Life 
signers have put up over five hundred millions 
of dollars. If the Messenger’s program goes 
on much longer, they’ll easily run into the 
billions.’ 

“ ‘And that Jew, in Bethlehem, has it all !’ 
shouted Brummell in a swearing tone of voice. 

“ ‘And,’ went on the American, ‘this Jew, 
Eppstein, and the Messenger and Bolinbroke 
are asking the United States and the Allies to 
guarantee Palestine to the Jews. They are 
just about to do it, too. Germany and Russia 
object, but Uncle Sam and John Bull want a 
friend, even though it be a little one, as close to 
the Dardanelles as possible. They are listen- 
ing kindly to Jacob Oppenheim, the direct 
leader of this Back to Israel movement. 

“ ‘I forgot the Jewish money. The Hebrews 
have subscribed three hundred millions of dol- 
lars !’ 


166 THE KING’S COMING 


“To the Pope, gentlemen — to the Pope!’ 
flamed Brummell. ‘Get to our Catholic con- 
tingent quickly. The world is being literally 
grabbed by an octopus !’ 

“This was the left-handed or weaker opposi- 
tion. The right-handed, or stronger, had not 
begun, although, now and then, it came up for 
discussion in conferences. This more formid- 
able opposition, when organized, might be the 
various governments. When the national gov- 
ernments became aroused, almost anything 
could happen. It was probably coming, too, 
as rapidly as governments usually move. 

“Bolinbroke and Stoddard believed they saw 
this last opposition when The Book of Life 
was planned. And they worked feverishly — 
beginning in the highest places first and work- 
ing downwards, signing up the rich and power- 
ful, and especially every great family and the 
few potentates and crowned heads in Europe. 
The masses of legislators, who unfortunately 
imagine themselves descended from Hercules, 
with the responsibility of the earth upon their 
shoulders, are for the most part difficult, 
worldly men, and it was among them, bodies 


OPPOSITION 


167 


composed of lawyers, politicians, and budding 
statesmen, that trouble was certain to brew. 
Diplomatic circles would sick them on as fast 
as they could. 

“Oblivious of these gathering storms, and 
only conscious of the wild, deliciously tanta- 
lizing one that raged in her own breast, the 
Messenger and her company set out, in the 
beginning of April, to sweep through Austria, 
Hungary, Russia — then return to Berlin, and 
on to London. Just before this start, Bolin- 
broke and Eppstein had come over from Beth- 
lehem. A conference of the four lasted nearly 
a whole day. The conclusion reached meant, 
when summed up : Rush the signing of The 
Book of Life. Circle the globe westward from 
Berlin as fast as possible. 

“The Messenger spent two days each in 
Vienna and Budapest. In both places, people 
accepted her with rejoicings and thanksgiv- 
ings. She healed the sick and lame, made the 
blind see, and heartened the wretched. 

“In Vienna one of the famous physicians lay 
at the point of death. The Messenger went 
voluntarily and stayed the hand of the Dark 


168 THE KING’S COMING 


Angel. For this, a public celebration was im- 
mediately declared, and she and her company 
became guests at Shoen Brun palace. 

“In Budapest, her latest triumphs in Vienna 
preceded her, and from the railway station, on 
orders of the Mayor, they drove her to the 
palace on the heights of the Danube. That 
night, in the Magyars spacious municipal hall, 
thousands upon thousands bowed the knee, cry- 
ing: ‘Have mercy upon us, O Lord!’ Gypsy 
bands played holy hymns on the street corners, 
and the second and last day of her stay, when 
she gave instructions to bring the sick and the 
suffering into the park, that she might pass by 
and heal them, the white city of a thousand 
Christian memories, broke out into jubilant, 
unrestrained demonstration for His Second 
Coming. 

“At Budapest, Marie, just before leaving, 
received a telegram from Bolinbroke, stating 
that the cause of the Jews suffered at the hands 
of Russia. The United States and England 
hesitated decisive steps while Russia held her 
present attitude. Would the Messenger, there- 
fore, hasten to Petrograd and remove the new 


OPPOSITION 169 


government’s objection? Quick action was 
advisable. 

“She replied that her company would pro- 
ceed immediately to Petrograd, where she and 
Escort Stoddard would do everything neces- 
sary for the accomplishment of results. She 
also added that Lord Ronald-Davies had been 
requested by her to go to London and Wash- 
ington, forthwith, and make sure of the two 
willing nations. 

“For a hundred miles on each side of the 
dreary and circuitous railway route from Bud- 
apest to Petrograd, via Moscow and Warsaw, 
armies of pilgrims came to crowd the right-of- 
way for just one look at Christ’s Messenger. 
Finally they improvised a float for the Messen- 
ger and her party in an open freight coach, that 
she might see the poor, dust-begrimed pilgrims 
and peasants and heal and bless them. The 
approval of these scores of multitudes was 
touching — raucous shout after shout went up 
at every station, and when they journeyed 
homeward again, many prayers were said at 
the roadside shrines. 

“Meanwhile the Committee for the Pre- 


170 THE KINGS COMING 


servation of the Dignity of the Church and 
State, composed of Messrs. Brummell, Good- 
enstall, and Williams — whose points of view 
as opposed to those of the Messenger have been 
noted — and three Catholics, who were not op- 
posed, being signers of The Book of Life, but 
who agreed merely to go and form a part of the 
committee to obtain the interview with the 
Pope and ask questions, waited for many days, 
in Rome, for an audience with His Holiness. 
The Head of the world-wide Catholicity 
seemed slow in giving of his valuable time. 
Finally a crested note from the Vatican — the 
Pope would see them at two o’clock next day. 

“Now, the Vatican and Holy See had never 
been presided over by a papal dignitary who 
was more wise, cheerful, and powerful than 
this Pope. He saw the human side of things, 
took a lively interest in outside world doings, 
and being meek and holy, he felt the burdens 
of all mankind. During the late war, his hands 
were full of perplexing problems — Catholics in 
Germany fighting Catholics in France ; Catho- 
lics in Italy fighting Catholics in Austria ; his 
ow'n custodian of the Robes concerned in the 


OPPOSITION 171 


blowing up of three Italian battleships, for 
which the member of his houshold was con- 
victed and sentenced to penal servitude for life ; 
and what with protests His Holiness was 
obliged to make against wanton slaying of 
women and children, he felt himself weighed 
down with more cares than one priestly leader 
should bear for humanity. Like Moses, at 
Mount Sinai, he cried unto the Lord for succor, 
saying ‘these people lay grievous burdens, 
more than I am able to stand.’ 

“When, therefore, the committee for the 
Preservation of Dignity of Church and State 
assembled before him, with a certain weariness 
of spirit he listened to their opening statement, 
simply to the eflfect that they came to inquire 
of one Marie, the Messenger. 

“The Pope was more clever than would be 
a compound of the brains of such men of a 
thousand generations. He smiled. It was 
clear they came to object, not merely to inquire. 
His Holiness was also blessed with a sound 
sense of humor and true wit — the kind that 
disarms without hurting. 

“ ‘Oh, yes, yes,’ he said cheerily, not waiting 


172 THE KING’S COMING 


for a statement of complaint. ‘You mean she 
who asks us to read again Jesus’s words about 
His Coming and Judgment. That I believe no 
churchman has ever dared to question. Every- 
body reads it, and has, some time or other, 
preached it.’ 

“Brummell reddened, and said ‘Hem !’ 
What! was he being accused by the Pope of 
Rome? He had certainly preached it in Lon- 
don for forty years — when he wanted an extra 
contribution ! 

“ ‘Yes, yes,’ continued the Pope, the discom- 
fort of one of his audience having been ob- 
served; ‘she proclaims a truth well known, in 
fact, I do not think it has ever been denied. 
The Messenger favored me and the Holy See 
with a direct and impressive presentation. 
There is no new doctrine, no infringement of 
creed, no harm to church or state; hence the 
College of Cardinals and I signed The Book 
of Life’ 

“The members of the committee were like 
schoolboys who had walked five miles to steal 
watermelons, and on arriving, found the 


OPPOSITION 173 


delicious objects of their desires already gar- 
nered for market. 

“ ‘How can I serve you, friends ?’ the Pope’s 
eyes twinkled as he asked the question. 

“The spokesman of the Catholic contingent 
wanted to be put on record, and said : 

“ ‘We three,’ indicating his companions, 
‘came merely to ascertain your opinion for 
them.’ 

“ ‘So I understood,’ said the Pope, putting 
his mind back into the almost intolerable yoke 
of his burdens. He started to turn away. 

“Peter Williams did not propose to come all 
the way from America and not make some sort 
of complaint. ‘No, sir,’ he said to himself. ‘I 
must speak,’ He bristled up and made bold. 

“ ‘But, Your Holiness, we came to make com- 
plaint. Hear me a little, I pray.’ 

“ ‘What is it ?’ asked the old man wearily, 
halting the attendants who were already hold- 
ing up his flowing robes for his departure, 
‘What has this good woman done?’ 

“Williams was confused. The last question 
of the Pope brought the matter to issue before 


174 THE KINGS COMING 


he could get in the lofty speech he had prepared. 
He could think of nothing for a full minute. 

“The sad look in the Pope’s eyes grew into 
pained surprise. 

“ ‘She prophesies!’ mumbled Williams. 

“‘Indeed!’ exclaimed the Holy Father of 
millions, the bored, pained expression passing 
for an instant. ‘I must quote to you the Scrip- 
tures. The occasion was the sending of the 
quails, when Moses cried unto the Lord for 
help in bearing the burdens of Israel, and the 
Lord told him to select two hundred and fifty 
of the princes of the tribes, who, when brought 
before the tabernacle, prophesied. And two 
in the camp, Eldad and Medad, who were not 
chosen, prophesied also. I am in the position 
of Moses. The Scripture runs thus: 

“‘And Joshua, the son of Nun, the ser- 
vant of Moses, one of the young men, an- 
swered and said. My Lord Moses, forbid 
them. 

“ ‘And Moses said unto him, enviest thou 
for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s 
people were prophets, and that the Lord 
put his spirit upon them!’ 

“The blow fell heavily upon the Messenger’s 


OPPOSITION 175 


accusers. It ended the interview, and three of 
the men went away laughing, but three went 
away sore and disappointed. 

“Williams, who pulled down the pillars upon 
their heads, soon revived, and could not refrain 
from chuckling inwardly — it had spoiled a 
speech he had practised for two weeks before, 
but the human appeal in Moses’s reply to 
Joshua as taken to himself by the Pope was 
real humor which an American could not over- 
look. 

“Once back in the hotel, Brummell paced the 
floor, wheezing and blowing and blustering in 
volumes. His face was as red as a bull- 
fighter’s flag. 

“Goodenstall sat gloomily by, impatient for 
the hour of the next train for home. 

“ ‘What shall I tell my flock? What shall I 
say ? I always have won. What the deuce can 
I say, Williams?’ 

“Williams grinned. ‘Tell them the truth, 
Brummell.’ 

“ ‘But I cawn’t! I simply cawn’t, old chap! 
It would ruin me. I must tell them something 
to keep up my dignity. What shall I say?’ 


176 THE KING’S COMING 


“Williams held his face straight by might 
and main, and replied : 

“ ‘Your case with the Pope and that with the 
lawyer and the judge are one. 

“ ‘A young lawyer presented a very poor 
case to a trial judge, and labored hard with it 
until the hour of adjournment came. The judge 
decided against him. 

“ ‘But you can’t do that,’ said the young 
man in despair. ‘Oh, you must not. I’m ruined 
if you do. What in the world would I tell my 
client? Think, Judge! Think!’ 

“ ‘The judge leaned over and whispered in 
the young man’s ear : 

“ ‘Go home and tell your client the judge is 
an old fool.’ 

“Brummell snorted like a horse that comes 
upon a skunk. He yelled : 

“ ‘I’ll never speak to you again, sir. The 
thought is disgraceful !’ 

“This disbanded the Committee for the Pre- 
servation of the Dignity, etc. 

“And the while, Protestants and those of no 
faith as well, were at that moment signing 
The Book of Life at the rate of a million a 
day!” 


CHAPTER XIII 


0 


“ISRAEL” 

pNGLAND, the Allies, and the United 
States freed Israel. British forces 
during the late war had wrested the 
land from Turkey. 

“Lord Ronald-Davies touched the right key 
in London, and Haldane, special commissioner 
in Washington, was instructed to act in accord- 
ance with a letter which would be presented 
by his Lordship, of Canada. Lord Ronald- 
Davies then hurried to the American capital, 
and there pressed vigorously, in conjunction 
with Jacob Oppenheim and the strong phalanx 
of Jews, and the President ordered the cession 
to be made, with Russia’s consent, if possible ; 
but in all eventualities, to be made. 

“Russia the same day cabled her consent. 

“It was obtained by the Messenger, who 
went to the heads of government, while in sit- 
ting, and boldly demanded immediate action. 
She put her requisition diplomatically, but it 
carried with it authority of the non-denial kind, 


178 THE KING’S COMING 


and the new government and the president as- 
sented at once, not knowing how to refuse the 
Messenger. Marie, in two days before the 
session was called, had upset Petrograd, and 
won to her two millions of people. To be plain, 
to the Russian mind, it became a serious dan- 
ger to trifle with the Messenger. All the rich 
and powerful of Russia were signers of The 
Book of Life. Any hesitancy on the part of the 
government might bring on a revolution, or 
any direful calamity to the then office-holders. 
Therefore, they gave in — the President wrote 
the cablegram in her presence, kissed the tips 
of her fingers, whispering fervently: ‘God 
speed.’ 

“Germany, not wishing to be on the outside, 
advised Turkey and Persia to grant the free- 
dom and accept the indemnity to be paid by the 
new kingdom. 

“Hence, in a week’s time, the International 
Congress, in deliberation at The Hague, on the 
the signing of the cession by Turkey and 
Persia, passed an act providing for the guar- 
antee of national independence of the provinces 


ISRAEL 179 


of Palestine, to be known in future as the 
Kingdom of Israel. 

“There went up a mighty shout from the 
four corners of the earth. Every Jew felt a 
lump of pride swell up in his breast. His race 
owned a land — history was preserved; pro- 
phecies were fulfilled. Jerusalem once more 
could boast of the House of Judah. From 
north to south, and from east to west, the in- 
habitants, not Hebrews, under fixed indemnity 
worked out by Bolinbroke and Eppstein, and 
approved by the proprietary governments and 
the powers, as well as the majority of the 
people, would leave and go into Turkeystan, 
Afghanistan, and Persia, and Hebrews from 
every country might come in and possess the 
land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Already 
applications for homesteads had been more 
than houses and lands available, so that the 
proprietary governments were at once in pos- 
session of cash indemnity money to pay every- 
one. Judah again triumphant! Israel come 
home again! The announcement was too 
sweeping for immediate appreciation. But the 
long-suffering, peculiar people, although no 


Il'l. U.UJ. — 1 

180 THE KING’S COMING 


longer God’s chosen ones, knew a great and 
mighty wonder had been wrought in Israel, 
and, wherever they happened to be dwelling 
at the time, one and all fell on their faces, and 
gave thanks to the God of their fathers. 

“The land, in the first instance, as far as 
property ownership was concerned, except one 
hundred acres in Bethlehem reserved forever 
to the Temple and The Book of Life, was 
cleared of all non-Hebrew residents, but there 
was nothing inserted in the Act of Cession, nor 
in the International Guarantee, nor yet in the 
new Kingdom’s constitution that precluded 
property ownership and full residence rights, 
and protection of foreigners in the realm. 
They started out, all Jews, as to property, but 
it was decreed to be a land for the stranger, 
for the Jews remembered that they had been 
strangers in other countries for centuries upon 
centuries. Neither did all Jews intend to for- 
sake their homes abroad and rush to Israel. 
Enough went, or would go, to fill the country- 
side and cities with a rich, educated, thorough- 
ly experienced population. It, however, was 
comforting to every Jew to know he could go 


ISRAEL 


181 


if he so wished, that his race was not without 
national entity, and that God was not mocked. 

“Israel was rapidly reformed in the ancient 
land. Eppstein and Oppenheim did their work 
thoroughly so that no delays, or contingencies, 
arguments or hitches, occurred once the con- 
sent had been obtained. Committees and de- 
partments of able, gifted men, measured, 
weighed, and reported upon every square inch 
of soil, every hovel, house, or mansion — every 
conceivable value. Other organizations pre- 
pared the constitutions, methods of govern- 
ment, laws, and forms of proceedure. The 
railways, telegraphs, and telephones were taken 
over and quickly modernized. 

“The borders of the kingdom were estab- 
lished by the Act of Cession, but were identical 
with those formed when Canaan was divided 
among the twelve tribes, reaching from the 
line straight west and east, below Mount Seir, 
in the South, to Mount Lebanon, in the North, 
and from the Mediterranean Sea, on the West, 
to the far eastern boundary of Manasseh be- 
yond Jordan. Turkish, Mohammedan, and 
modern names were swept away over night, 


182 THE KING’S COMING 


and all old Bible names restored. It was in- 
deed Israel. 

“The Government was begun, under special 
committees, in all its administrative depart- 
ments ; only the executive to be left for election. 
The form of government was a constitutional 
monarchy, the king elective by popular vote, 
to reign for twenty-five years, or until death. 
Arrangements were made to hold the general 
election as soon as practical. The capital of 
the Kingdom of Israel was located at Jerusa- 
lem, as in former days.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


“truth” 

H RIEDERICH-STRASSE Station, in 
Berlin, hummed with an immense con- 
course of Teutons, that flowed in and 
out like the eddy of a turbulent river, all talk- 
ing and gesticulating about one woman — she 
who had stirred up civilized men to an extent 
previously believed to be an impossibility. And 
yet a mere girl! ‘Mein Gott! mein Gott! das 
ist nicht gut!' could be heard everywhere. 
Nevertheless, people’s necks craned and 
stretched to see her come in. ‘The Messenger 
of Christ I’ somebody cried, when the beautiful 
vision appeared in the door of the railway car- 
riage, and despite desultory criticisms an hour 
before, a shout of approval went up from the 
crowd, and a noisy demonstration followed. 

“It could not very well be helped. The Mes- 
senger was an extraordinary young woman. 
To begin with, she possessed all the finer 
qualities of attractive, enthralling feminity, 
supported and made irresistible by a physical 


184 


THE KING’S COMING 


charm and perfection never before seen in 
the world. It was God’s way. He meant that 
the last chance of man should be a compelling 
one, so He sent a woman but little less than the 
angels, and endowed her with a beauty greater 
than that of women; of earth, and a mind 
educated and more powerful than most men’s. 
To be doubly sure that nothing would go amiss, 
three able, worldly men fell in her way to be 
converted and used for God’s glory. One of 
them, Joseph Bolinbroke, was every man’s 
superior when it came to management and far- 
seeing generalship. He felt the tug of the 
talents given him, wholeheartedly espoused the 
cause of the Messenger, and spread her name 
and fame to the uttermost parts of the habita- 
tions of man. T shall make them know her 
from a year to three before she passes their 
way!’ he declared. Not once did he slacken 
in effort, nor did he weary of inventing new 
and novel methods of publicity. Representa- 
tives of papers and periodicals, hung about the 
general office doors, in Bethlehem, and he fed 
out to them news and copy that kept the races 
of men on tiptoe and waiting for the Messen- 


TRUTH 


185 


ger. Then it was not sui'prising that she em- 
bodied all of greatness and wonder when she 
came to Berlin. 

“Bolinbroke had seen to it a year before 
that the members of the government and chief 
men of wealth and influence, in Berlin, and 
Germany, signed The Book of Life. He knew 
no mistake must be made with Central Europe. 
And the ten disciples he and the Messenger 
selected and sent to Austria, Hungary, and the 
German nation knew what would be expected 
of them, and were, indeed, the caliber of men, 
with brains and personalities to accomplish 
results. They did the work thoroughly, so that 
the countries were literally tied up in The Book 
of Life. 

“Hence, even though many individuals 
criticized, principally on the basis that a man, 
and not a woman, should spread the tidings of 
His Second Coming, the power of the ruling 
classes was the Messenger’s prior to her ar- 
rival. Of course, when the quibblers saw her, 
they shut up and roared her praises in a style 
characteristic of their nationality. 

“The least, then, to be expected of the city 


186 THE KING^S COMING 


and nation of order and precision and military 
training was a reception up to the mark of 
Teutonic standards. They had it ready and 
waiting, true to their ideals, and it was the 
Messenger. 

“Outside the gateway, but within the 
Freiderich-Strasse Station, stood a white 
chariot, decorated on the sides with cherubims, 
and forward over the dashboard the head and 
shoulders of an angel, its massive, snowy wings 
spread gracefully in flight. This equipage had 
been arranged to convey the Messenger, her 
Escort, and Retinue of Ladies. To it were 
hitched twelve arched-necked white horses, 
harnessed in white enamelled trappings, 
trimmed with gold buckles and chains, and 
plaited leadreins of satin ribbons for her Sol- 
diers in Waiting. Along both sides of Fried- 
erich-Strasse and Unter den Linden were 
double rows of Bavarian foot soldiers, stand- 
ing erect, shoulders touching, facing the pas- 
sage, and just within the roadway, on each side, 
a single line of mounted troops — ^both infantry 
and cavalry in white — everything white. 

“Exactly on the instant that the Messenger 


TRUTH 


187 


and her party were seated, cannon set in a cir- 
cuit about the city boomed a rolling thunder of 
welcome. Chimes of church bells opened with 
bars of the Fatherland, and the Chief Execu- 
tive of Berlin and his guards galloped up to the 
heads of the Messenger’s horses to guide her 
through the right-of-way. Bands played and 
sirens screamed as the procession moved out 
through the avenue lined and overlooked from 
windows, galleries, and roofs, by hundreds of 
thousands of eager, anxious men, women, and 
children. 

“The hour was ten in the morning. A bright 
summer day gladdened the scene. The light 
colored stone buildings glittered in the sun. 
Solid blue sky, flecked with a few fleecy clouds, 
seemed a befitting canopy over the grand, in- 
spiring setting. The pride of humanity be- 
held the splendor, and smiled as they moved 
slowly down Germany’s gorgeous boulevard. 

“From side streets, carriages and auto- 
mobiles, draped in white, dropped in behind to 
lengthen the parade. 

“The line turned in under the arches at the 
Reichstag and advanced along the Siegesallee 


188 THE KING’S COMING 


through the Tiergarten, where two rows of 
life-sized statues of the kings and emperors of 
Prussia and Germany from the beginning to 
that day, one on either side of the broad park- 
ings, stood as calm, serene sentinels to the pass- 
ing of God’s host, that should mark the begin- 
ning of boundless mercy and happiness upon 
earth. At the City Church, they halted a few 
minutes to listen to the reading of an address 
of welcome. Then after a wide sweep around 
the city, the guests of honor were whisked off 
to Pottsdam for luncheon and entertainment. 

“Such was the Messenger’s entry into Ger- 
many. The government heads saw to it that 
the people’s doings were heralded in every 
center of civilization. Bolinbroke was truly 
grateful. He sent an appropriate telegram of 
thanks, then forthwith began manipulating his 
array of lieutenants to see that London and 
New York authorities would not allow their 
coming receptions of the Messenger to be out- 
done by Berlin. He knew when and how to 
utilize the frailties and ambitions of men to 
feed the growing colossal magnitude of the 
world’s religious revival. 


TRUTH 


189 


“The Messenger did not dream of the subtle 
test of the truth of her mission that awaited 
her in Germany’s capital. She must there dem- 
onstrate to statesmen, scientists, learned doc- 
tors, university professors, and specialists, 
that she was, indeed, Christ’s Messenger of 
His Second Coming. The grand reception was 
all right. They believed in her, too — there was 
too much evidence about as common knowl- 
edge — but they were all, deep down where 
that which is done, is done in secret, confirmed 
materialists, to whom only plain, precise, un- 
mistakable facts would appeal. So that amid 
plannings of outward show, they had arranged 
an elaborate test, to be held — under the pre- 
tense of special honor — in the Reichstag. All 
the eminent and cunning men, previously 
enumerated, were to be witnesses. 

“For some days the Messenger was feted and 
carried from point to point, as a pet of the 
nation. Then suddenly, one morning as she 
stood at the window of her apartment, in the 
Palace, at Potsdam, caressing her doves which 
were playing about her on the iron gratings, 
she was informed that a gathering of great 


190 THE KING’S COMING 


men of Germany awaited her in the House of 
Parliament! Would she be so gracious as to 
address them ? 

“She knew no such thing as unpreparedness. 
In the words of the Prophet Balaam, she could 
have said: 

" ‘Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now 
any power at all to say anything f The word 
that God putteth into my mouth, that shall I 
speak! 

“Notwithstanding she never took her hand 
away from His work, this abrupt announce- 
ment was unusual, and she observed all that 
went on about her. There was a stiffness in 
the air — military exactitude — ^to be sure, fault- 
less politeness, but the clang and force of com- 
pliance of all betokened an extraordinary 
move of that extraordinary people. 

“She replied quietly: T am ready.’ The 
Courier cracked his heels together, bobbed for- 
w'ard as a bow, and marched out, almost in 
goosestep movement. 

“The doves stopped still and cocked their 
heads to one side. Marie gathered them to her 
bosom and held them tightly for some time. 


TRUTH 


191 


then putting them out into the clear, invigorat* 
ing open, said : 

“ ‘Go now, play. Marie must up and to her 
Master’s work.’ 

“She watched them sail down to the palace 
lawn, and strut in circles about one of the Ger- 
man pigeons. 

“ ‘Dear things,’ she murmured, and faced 
about to be judged of men. 

“Her Lord did not suffer her to go unarmed. 
The gentle Voices spoke encouragement. 
‘Fear not, Marie. Look neither to the right 
nor left. That which is to be will be as pleases 
Him.’ As she lifted the latch to go, the Voice 
whispered in her ear again : 

“ ‘Truth shall make thee free.’ 

“Even in that critical Senate she could be at 
ease with the unseen powers of heaven at her 
back. By inspiration, she knew what would be 
expected, and what she would do. 

“Credit is due to German thoroughness for 
the service they rendered the world that day. 

“The dignitaries of state and of science and 
learning, sat in respectful silence as the Mes- 
senger entered, leaning on the arm of her little. 


192 THE KING’S COMING 


wiry, righteously haughty Escort. Places had 
been provided in front of the presiding officer’s 
desk for the two, and lower seats for her Re- 
tinue of Ladies. With firm, certain foot-tread 
she approached, undaunted, and took the posi- 
tion assigned her by the Government. A 
deathlike silence settled upon the sages of the 
nation. 

“The speaker adroitly introduced the Mes- 
senger, and for the first time, requested of her 
the scope of address desired. It sounded al- 
most like a demand — an imperial requisition. 

“Lord Stoddard unknowingly repeated the 
words of her Voices: 

“ ‘The Truth shall make thee free.’ 

“Modest, grand, and powerful, the Messen- 
ger arose and courtesied to the introduction. 
Then with composure and surcharged force of 
brains and spiritual strength glowing upon her 
countenance, she surveyed the assembly of 
sphinxlike faces and began the most learned, 
eloquent, and stirring speech that had ever 
been heard in that auditorium. 

“The Scriptures were unfolded to them. 
With incontrovertible conviction and logic, 


TRUTH 


193 


such as amazed the wise men of Germany’s 
renowned universities, she traced and engraved 
deep into their minds all the facts and prophe- 
cies of His Second Coming, and pounded them 
in and sealed them tightly with the signs of 
the times — the Beginning of Sorrows! The 
music of her voice trickled into the dried, stale 
chaff like dripping spring water into dusty 
canons, and lo! the cheering buds began to 
shoot forth. They listened, rubbing their 
spacious palms together. They drank of the 
fountain of Truth, and were refreshed. 

“When she closed and would have retired to 
the cushioned throne, her Voices said: 

“ ‘Stand still and see what He will do !’ 

“She remained, as they had purposed to ask 
her to do, and the six inquisitors at her feet 
moved about, ominously whispering to each 
other, and prepared to ply her with questions. 
Shorthand reporters drew before them note- 
books and handfuls of sharpened pencils. 

“One pleasant-speaking sage interrogated 
her, in the most careful, respectful manner. He 
covered inconsequential matters briefly, and 
launched boldly into the Bible, going gradually 


194 THE KING'S COMING 


into what critics term contradictions and in- 
consistencies. 

“The Messenger answered with such prompt- 
ness, and convincing clearness, that the good 
old man would have abandoned the task, had 
he not feared consequences to his future. 

“This tedious, but highly interesting per- 
formance electrified the audience. They were 
in a mental state of acceptance already, induced 
by the most marvelous sermon that had ever 
been preached in their hearing, and the detail 
and logical precision, so dear to those grand 
men, dragged them to the brink of brainstorms. 

"‘Mein Gott! is she not immense?’ could 
be distinctly heard between questions and 
answers. 

“Dr. Heidelwein took his seat, feeling sat- 
isfied with himself and the replies. In fact, 
he a doubter and skeptic, was tottering under 
his kindlewood of theories. 

“Next for the good of humanity was Dr. 
Paul Thanhauser, of Munich — a bear man, 
with grunt as well as grizzle. His voice, though, 
was that of a roaring lion, and he always looked 


TRUTH 


195 


about him as if he sought whom he might de- 
vour, 

“Dr. Thanhauser wiped his nose glasses very 
deliberately while he stood boring the Messen- 
ger through with his catamount eyes; and 
then, like the snapping in twain of one of the 
giant oaks, in the Tiergarten, he stormed out: 

“ ‘How do you know you are the Messenger 
of Jesus Christr 

“The boom of that voice caused every man 
to start in his seat. 

“When the echo died the moment was in- 
tense, 

“Marie, the holy Messenger, without quaver 
or the batting of an eye, raised her hands to 
heaven, 

“Strange fear seized upon every witness. 

“ ‘Answer Thou for me !’ she said con- 
fidently. 

“Glorious, dazzling clouds of fire filled all 
the transept behind her and to the ceiling above. 
The dark interior of the legislative chamber 
glowed as if burnished with burning brimstone. 

“Men’s teeth clicked together in consterna- 
tion. 


196 THE KING’S COMING 


“A voice spoke from out the pillar of fire: 

" 7 am the Lord. Hear my Messenger!’ 

“Many would have dashed themselves 
through the open windows, but their shaking 
limbs refused to move. 

“The fire dimmed slowly, and the astonished 
court of inquisition saw a heavenly vision en- 
circling the Messenger. 

“This passed away quickly, and Marie’s 
doves flew noiselessly in from the high arched 
window and settled upon her shoulders!” 


CHAPTER XV 


“brummell’s woman” 



'OU, Princess Aida, in troubled 
waters !’ thundered her uncle, the Rev. 
Theobald Brummell. ‘You spend 
sufficient money without getting into trouble.’ 

“‘Yes;’ she said meekly, drying feigned 
tears. 


“Brummell was pacing the floor of his 
study. He whirled and looked severely at the 
dazzling dark minx that gave him constant 
concern, year in and out. Lately his West 
End parishioners were the more perplexing, 
especially since his fiasco with the Pope of 
Rome. And now this delightfully ardent, but 
very adventurous niece, his annual, every day 
worry, must come along with fresh woes. 

“He continued his heavy tramping, and each 
time by the window, halted to cast a weary 
glance out over Kensington Gardens — ‘Lon- 
don is having beastly weather!’ he said with 
bitter vehemence. 

“Sobs from Princess Aida snatched him 


198 


THE KING’S COMING 


back to the problem in mind. He was afraid 
to ask what trouble she had gotten in — such 
interrogations from him usually cost from 
one hundred to five hundred pounds. 

“Why had his brother married a Turkish 
woman, anyway? Could he not have found 
a wife in England? The Princess’s title was 
Turkish, inherited from her mother’s family 
through a maze of intricacies, yet it lacked 
nothing in genuineness. But, with these 
questions in his memory, came the reminder 
that all the wealth of the Turkish family had 
been entrusted to him, as the guardian of the 
young lady. Princess Aida, when her father 
and mother both died in the same year. Had 
he, as trustee, done well with the money? This 
specter drove him to Princess Aida’s side. 

“‘How now, dearie, what is it?’ asked the 
uncle, patting her bowed head. 

“She saw victory in sight — had he not over 
three hundred thousand pounds of her money? 

“The Princess raised her soulful eyes to 
Brummell’s splotched face, and entwined her 
arms about his bull-like neck. 

“She was a gay vixen, distinctly of the dark 


BRUMMELUS WOMAN 199 


bewitching type — black glittering eyes that 
cried in the sadness of despair, burned in ter- 
rible anger, enticed as weapons of a temptress, 
or froze in scorn those who despised her. In 
every outline of feature and curve and form of 
body, she might have been a modern Cleopatra. 
She was fair in complexion, with rose red 
cheeks — white, even teeth, daintily droop-cor- 
nered, sensuous mouth, long, thick coal-black 
hair, shapely but slightly hooked Turkish nose. 
She was a dashing, dangerously attractive 
young woman of twenty-five, and at sight any- 
one would have marked her as an extraction 
from Constantinople. From her people she in- 
herited beauty and form and love for Bohemian 
life — dancing, gambling, and a score of petty 
vices ; from her father she inherited mind and 
education. Hence the combination made her 
the more to be feared, for she was a formid- 
able fascination of willful deceit and rare 
talents, a certain winner of most men who 
came her way. 

“The one dread of Rev. Brummell was that 
she would marry before some of his schemes 
prospered. His brother’s will provided that he 


200 THE KING’S COMING 


should keep Princess Aida’s money until she 
married. 

‘“What? You haven’t fallen in love?’ 

“ ‘No, no, no! Uncle Theo. Why should I 
marry?’ 

“ ‘That’s just what I say,’ he sighed in re- 
lief, patting her cheeks, 

“ ‘Then it must be money. He tried to re- 
member his balances, for if the Princess ever 
caught him, she was just the chip that would 
have him pulled up quickly. 

“‘Gambling debt?’ Brummell ventured. 

“ ‘Yes.’ 

“‘How much?’ 

“ ‘Fifty thousand.’ 

“ ‘Pounds ? My God ! Aida ! Fifty thou- 
sand pounds! Preposterous I It cawn’t be, 
child! — ^you infernal witch! Tell me. Vixen, 
it isn’t true !’ 

“He went into paroxysms of rage and weep- 
ing; then shook his clenched fists in madness, 
stormed and tore his coarse hair, and con- 
cluded by fainting in a heap on the floor. 
Blood spurted from his nostrils, and his face 
appeared to be oozing blood from every pore. 


BRUMMELUS WOMAN 201 


“The Princess who crouched in a corner, 
with her eyes fixed upon him like a scared but 
angry cat, ran to him, and when she saw the 
blood, became very much frightened. 

“It took her and three servants a half hour 
to get him restored to consciousness and com- 
fortably propped in a chair with sofa pillows 
and blankets. 

“Whenever she asked for money, she al- 
ways had a scene, and shed tears, but this ex- 
perience was terrible! Cold perspiration 
dropped from her clammy brow, and she trem- 
bled from head to foot. Three times she had 
vowed never to gamble again. If he would 
only speak! 

“Brummell had recovered. He was the bet- 
ter oflf after spilling a little surplus blood, but 
his shrewd eyes detected the state of the Prin- 
cess, so he posed as weak and faint. 

“The highly-strung girl collapsed in a fit of 
weeping. 

“ ‘You shouldn’t tax an old man !’ he said in 
a hurt tone. 

“ ‘Oh! Uncle Theo! I’m so sorry!’ she whim- 


202 


THE KING’S COMING 


pered, crawling across the room to him on her 
knees. 

“ ‘Who is the scoundrel ?’ 

“ ‘It was — it’s Lady St. Clair.’ 

“ ‘I’ll pay it !’ he said quickly, a load rolling 
off his shoulders. Lady St. Clair owed him 
sixty thousand pounds! 

“ ‘Uncle Theo !’ she exclaimed, ‘dear, good 
Uncle!’ 

“He maintained his woe-begone, pained ex- 
pression. 

“Aida’s joy glistened through her teardrops. 
She climbed on his fat lap, and kissed him 
several times. 

“‘You are a charming girl, Aida, but if 
you don’t mend your ways, you’ll kill me.’ 

“ ‘I promise anything. Uncle Theo !’ 

“ ‘You are wasting your talents, child. You 
could wed the greatest peer in England and be 
the most sought after lady in the country. But 
you throw yourself away — no, no ; you are not 
really disgraced, you haven’t sinned irretriev- 
ably, but, my dear child, you get awfully near 
the brink.’ 


BRUMMELUS WOMAN 203 


“Earnestly she pleaded: ‘I’ll reform— I 
promise you anything.’ 

“Brummell held her at arm’s length and 
studied her now contrite face. She was cer- 
tainly an enticing bit, a powerful instrument 
if turned upon a real mission. His clumsy but 
shrewd mind worked as rapidly as it could. 
She was now in his debt — he must clinch some- 
thing. 

“The sore spot came forward first — the 
Messenger! 

“Capital ! The Princess Aida could entangle 
her, if it were possible under heaven ! Might 
he not accomplish a victory by this instrument 
of feminine winsomeness and cunning? 

“ ‘You could render your Uncle and the 
world a mighty service, if you would.’ 

“ ‘Name it. Uncle Theo.’ 

“ ‘The Messenger — ^you know my efforts to 
uncover her fraud.’ 

“ ‘Yes,’ she said doubtfully, ‘but I don’t see 
how I could help there.’ 

“ ‘I won’t pay the fifty thousand if you don’t 
try.’ 

“There was a threat in his ultimatum. 


204 THE KING’S COMING 


“The Princess shuddered. He was a man 
who kept his word. If this debt were not paid 
by noon that day, only one hour more of grace, 
she would be ruined. 

“ T’ll be ruined — lose everything !’ 

“ ‘Try then — you can.’ 

“ ‘But how can I ? I bear her no malice, 
Uncle!’ 

“ ‘Ah, I see ! My dear child. I’m an honor- 
able minister of the Gospel. I’m not suggest- 
ing that you do a wrong. I only want you to 
discover the fraud. There’s a screw loose 
somewhere — I’m positive. Is it a crime to 
catch a sin and hold it up for public view? 
Why, think of it! You and not she would be 
the Deliverer of the world !’ 

“ ‘But how can I ?’ 

“ ‘Attach yourself to her, Aida ! Attach 
yourself to the party of His Second Coming — 
bah! — makes me furious to think of the im- 
position! — attach yourself to her, my clever 
Princess. A Princess in her company would 
not be a thing amiss, now that she is shortly 
to go to America, where they get fawny over 
titles.’ 


BRUMMELUS WOMAN 205 


“ ‘The Messenger has selected her party — 
twenty-five besides herself — there are atten- 
dants, of course; and I’m told she will not in- 
crease the number.’ 

“ ‘But there are followers, my dear child. 
I’m told after her miraculous exhibition of 
divine approbation in Berlin, nigh unto a thou- 
sand people are following her at their own ex- 
pense. They come here to-morrow. My sec- 
retary says they — she and that woodenhead, 
Stoddard — have chartered the Cunard liner 
Alhamhria, the new seventy-thousand-ton ship, 
to take her and the party — and followers, my 
dear, followers, to New York. The Yankee, 
Bolinbroke, is reported to be spending four 
hundred thousand pounds on this voyage — 
gives passage free to followers ! Think of it ! 
A Princess would fit in on this voyage — im- 
mense !’ 

“ ‘I know Lord Stoddard,’ she s^d demurely. 

“ ‘Of course, you know the scapegrace.’ 

“ ‘Oh, he’s clever — not so bad.’ 

“ ‘His father was worse. Princess, far 
worse.’ 

“ ‘That I know, too — I could tell Lord Stod- 


206 


THE KING’S COMING 


dard a great deal more about Helna Didioni 
than he knows, or that she dreams I know.’ 

“ ‘Could you ?’ asked Brummell, beaming. 
‘Then you have a clew in camp.’ 

“ ‘I meet people, you know, and they con- 
fide in me.’ 

“ ‘Exactly so. Princess, exactly so ! That’s 
why I select you to uncover and expose this 
fraud. 

“ ‘Think of it ! Britain gone mad. London 
is to receive the Messenger to-morrow as 
though she were a bride for the King. It 
makes me cry. Princess!’ He blubbered like 
a schoolboy. ‘I scarcely believe I live in Lon- 
don. The train from Flushing-Queensboro 
boat should have come in at Holborn Viaduct, 
but they shunt it around to Paddington Station, 
so as to give ’em a parade through London — 
a-outdoin’ the Berliners ! An escort of twelve 
white aeroplanes to fly just above an’ a little 
ahead of the train, all the way from Queens- 
boro to Paddington. Grand display, isn’t it? 
Then I cawn’t believe my senses. By horrible 
coincidence, this parade of blasphemy is to take 
the same route as King Edward’s funeral 


BRUMMELUS WOMAN 


207 


cortege! Did I read it right, my dear? Yes; 
here is the paper ’ 

“The telephone rang, and the Princess ran 
nervously to it. 

“‘Yes, yes! are you there? I’ll pay it! 
Uncle will pay the fifty thousand for me. She 
wants to know when. Uncle.’ 

“ ‘Tell her, if she doesn’t mind. I’ll call at 
two o’clock.’ 

“It was so arranged, and again the Princess 
kissed the red-faced Brummell. 

“ ‘Where was I, dear ? — oh ! yes ; the route 
de triomphe! — :bah ! such a bally outrage ! King 
Edward’s funeral path— except ’tother end to. 
Yes, here it is: 

“ ‘Starting from Paddington Station. Lit- 
tle Praed Street through Great Praed Street 
to Edgeware Road and along to Marble Arch. 
Thence, across Hyde Park to Hyde Park 

Corner. By way of Green , St. James 

Parks to Parliament Hill; thence down Par- 
liament Hill to ’ 

‘It’s torn off here. But they get on 
straight away to Westminster, give thanks — 
bah! Britons are shamed! Then the tinsel 
show comes round about by Whitehall, under 


208 THE KING’S COMING 


Admiralty Arch, and on in Buckingham Walk 
to our own Royal Palace — to dine and sleep 
under the roof of our Majesties!’ 

“Brummell had worked himself into a high 
state of excitement and indignation. His Brit- 
ish pride put him off for a moment. 

“ ‘But, aye ! London’ll outdo that Berlin 
show ! John Bull knows how to tog up. What 
do you know about the sky spectacle over Lon- 
don to-morrow? The twelve flying rigs from 
Queensboro are simply escorts. When Eng- 
land’s grand procession starts from Padding- 
ton, two thousand white-winged air ships will 
hover over the route, a-swingin’ down cheru- 
bim tied with white silk ribbons — each ribbon 
one hundred feet long! Now that slaps it all 
over the military bally rot of the Prussians, 
don’t it? Huh! Johnnie Bull knows what’s 
proper when you poke him! London’s a- 
spendin’ two hundred and fifty thousand 
pounds ! Two hundred and fifty thousand 

“ ‘Think of it, my dear !’ he exclaimed get- 
ting back to his text very much in the same un- 
ceremonious way that he jerked himself from 
wanderings in his sermons. 


BRUMMELL’S WOMAN 209 


“ ‘Think of it, Princess Aida, you, whose 
mother’s country has been wheedled into free- 
ing Palestine ! Think of it — two hundred and 
fifty thousand pounds, when poor King Ed- 
ward’s funeral only cost forty thousand pounds 
— a blooming outrage, to be requited only by 
exposing the foul fraud!’ 

“He gasped for breath. 

“ ‘I think. Uncle, King Edward’s funeral 
cost nearly two hundred thousand pounds,’ 

“ ‘Don’t contradict me — forty, I say. Any- 
how, my wise niece, grant you two hundred 
thousand, this pepper box and empty spool 
show is a-costin’ fifty thousand morel And 
what with war taxes, old age pensions, the 
women a- votin’ — by God I it must be stopped I’ 

“Princess Aida industriously polished her 
finger nails. 

“ ‘As I was a-sayin’, I say it’s a shame I The 
King and Queen skimming on ahead in a mon- 
strous airship — they don’t gallop in front of 
the Messenger on horses, like damned lackeys, 
they don’t !’ 

“ ‘Uncle, you swear !’ 

“ ‘That’s a righteous oath, it is. My 


210 THE KING’S COMING 


mother’s good Cockney blood pops in some- 
times.’ 

“ ‘I notice it.’ 

“The remark was a little unfortunate — his 
father’s second strange marriage to his rever- 
ence’s mother, was an incident wished forgot- 
ten. Brummell would have turned aside to 
reprove, but he was getting on immensely, and 
would soon turn his wayward niece into an 
ally for the uplift of the Church. 

“ ‘As I was a-sayin’, our Majesties don’t 
lackey about, they don’t. Their Royal High- 
nesses float in the air. Anyway, it’s a lot of 
puff and fluff out of plumb with the dignity of 
Church and State. I’m going to call a halt on 
them, too, I am, or my name won’t be Theo- 
bald Brummell. And ’ 

“ ‘And what do you want me to do ?’ the 
Princess asked, becoming bored. 

“ ‘Be a follower of them !’ bellowed Brum- 
mell. 

“ ‘I can’t be a follower.’ 

“ ‘No ; and you shan’t ! I mean, go a-follow- 
in’ them.’ 


BRUMMELL’S WOMAN 211 


“His Cockney lapse made his statement 
clearer and she answered: 

“ ‘Very well, reserve my passage on the 
Alhamhria. I’ll go.’ 

“ ‘That’s a dear !’ the big churchman cried, 
picking Aida up and shaking her very much 
like a fat pup handles a kitten. 

“ ‘Don’t, Uncle Theo ! You mess up my lace 
blouse !’ 

“He put her down and breathed hard for a 
minute. 

“ ‘I’ll just run along now,’ said he, becom- 
ing practical, ‘and see Lord Ronald-Davies. 
He can arrange your space on the Alhambria.’ 

“ ‘Oh, my ! what has he to do with it ?’ asked 
Aida, really interested for the first time. 

“ ‘Why, he’s a-goin’, he is. He follows.’ 

“ ‘Lord Ronald-Davies !’ 

“ ‘Yes, Princess. Prominent people follow. 
That’s why I want you — that’s why I got the 
consent of my mind to let you follow.’ 

“ ‘But Lord Ronald-Davies of all people ! 
Why, he’s richer than the Duke of Westmin- 
ster ever was — you must be mistaken. Uncle. 
I’ve met him several times lately — he was at 


212 THE KING’S COMING 


Lady St. Clair’s last night. Thank God he 
didn’t see me play. He can’t be taken up with 
the Messenger! You are mistaken.’ 

“ ‘Don’t contradict me !’ roared the Rev. 
Brummell. 

“ ‘But it just can’t be, Uncle.’ 

“ ‘Don’t I know ? Big people are in the show. 
Do you suppose our Majesties would put her 
up in Buckingham Palace, if the adventuress 
weren’t a-drawin’ biggish folk? Spruce up, 
my dear — Lord Ronald-Davies is in! Why, 
bless my soul, now I come to think of it, he 
topped the list here that bullied England into 
giving Palestine to the Jews. He also went to 
the United States as a sort of plenipotentiary 
and got the President befuddled into restoring 
Israel.’ 

“That settled the whole question for Prin- 
cess Aida — if Lord Ronald-Davies were in 
that woman’s party, she would go, too. 

“ ‘Of course, then, you must be right. I’ll 
go, and if there’s a flaw in the mill wheel. I’ll 
find it. Depend upon me. Uncle Theo — and 
don’t forget to call at two o’clock, and settle 
that fifty thousand. Lady St. Clair knows I 


BRUMMELVS WOMAN 213 


have an eye on Lord Ronald-Davies, and if 
the money were not paid, she would tell him I 
gamble.’ 

“ ‘Oho ! that’s why you said you would be 
ruined ! Oho ! my designing niece !’ 

“ ‘Oohoo !’ she cooed and ran away. 


CHAPTER XVI 


“the alhambria” 

n ON DON opened her great heart to the 
Messenger. Besides the pomp and 
magnificence of the parade and aero- 
plane assembled, described by Rev. Theobald 
Brummell, the solid, genuine worth of the 
British people, the kind that sticks and grows 
warmer every minute, came to the fore and 
glowed in rich effulgence of appreciation. 
The Messenger of warning had ready official 
recognition and full acceptance among the 
people. 

“For a week, every day, she addressed thou- 
sands upon multiplied thousands at Crystal 
Palace. She went on an extensive tour 
throughout the city, blessing and healing the 
packed throngs in the streets, ever exhorting 
them to turn into the path of everlasting life. 

“At the close of this satisfying stay in the 
British metropolis, ministers and priests from 
every part of England, Wales, Scotland, and 
Ireland, met in joint session in Guild Hall, and 


THE ALHAMBRIA 215 


listened to a sound, well-balanced, sustained 
sermon by the Messenger, which moved them 
to pass a resolution pledging her and each other 
to unite in a great revival of religion in the 
islands. 

“Every press in the United Kingdom urged 
home to poor and rich alike, the message, and 
extolled the work of union of all sects and 
creeds for a mighty uplift of righteousness, 

“Therefore, when the Messenger and her 
Company went on board the Steamship Alham- 
bria, at Liverpool, westward bound, there ac- 
companied her the grateful wishes of added 
millions. 

“Civilization never had witnessed such a 
sailing as that of the Alhambria from Liver- 
pool docks. The ship was the last triumph of 
marine construction. With its length of four- 
teen hundred feet, weight of seventy thousand 
tons, stories of grand suites, decks, avenues, 
glass-enclosed promenades, golf links, cricket 
and basket ball wickets, dining salons, ball- 
rooms, parlors, smoking dens, gymnasiums, 
swimming pools, and intricate machinery and 
rigging, it embodied in massive ensemble the 


216 THE KING’S COMING 


imaginings and scientific knowledge of a thou- 
sand master minds. It was more than a float- 
ing palace — its proportions, equipment, and 
capacity were those of a modern city con- 
gealed, decorated, and beautified, as an ark, 
to accommodate a principality. The crew and 
attendants numbered fifteen hundred. It could 
carry six thousand passengers. This voyage 
with the Messenger was its first trip across the 
Atlantic. And that afternoon, in June, as the 
superb ship lay alongside, loaded to the limit 
with the Messenger and her followers, and 
everything necessary for the passage, the 
shores, docks, buildings, streets, windows and 
roofs of houses and public edifices were black 
with human beings, awed and excited by the 
spectacle. There had never been anything 
approaching it in magnitude, and a feeling per- 
meated the onlookers that never again would 
they behold such a sailing — God’s Messenger 
of His Second Coming ! 

“The war was gone and the ocean grey 
color with it— the Cunarder, that day, looked 
fresh and invigorating in its antebellum colors 
of glossy black, crimson, and white. At the 


THE ALHAMBRIA 217 


top of the foremast waved a huge white silk 
pennant, having on it in large red lettering; 
‘Christ’s Messenger.’ Flags of all nations 
flapped and fluttered about over the ship. On 
the point of the bow, weighted down by the 
Alhambria’s ponderous anchor, was an enor- 
mously exaggerated form of The Book of Life. 

“The Alhambria moved slowly down the 
Mersey. On shore, people cheered until they 
were hoarse. Westminster chimes in the 
towers clanged, and brass bands played ‘God 
Save the King!’ On the decks, six thousand 
white handkerchiefs waved farewell. When 
the noise and uproar on land subsided, and the 
sea of faces set still in one long, last look, there 
were wafted back, over the waters, from 
Sousa’s band, on board, sublime, sacred strains 
of ‘Nearer My God to Thee.’ 

“It was five o’clock, that glorious summer 
evening, when the giantess liner pushed her 
nose over the bar and swam clear in open sea. 
All four of her red-banded funnels rolled out 
clouds of black, whirling, curling smoke. The 
engines had their controls thrown wide, and the 
propellers churned the dark water of the deep 


218 THE KING’S COMING 


into frothing white foam. The whistle 
sounded, making the ship and the elements 
quiver with its heavy, guttural, sonorous roar. 
Haste now ! — the Alhambria was off ! In three 
days and six hours, she must cast anchor in 
New York Harbor. 

“As the last tremor of the whistle died out, 
and land faded from view, the thousands of 
passengers turned to play as school children 
dismissed for the term. There would be three 
days of relaxation and enjoyment. They need 
not fear seasickness, for supposed remedies 
had been found to keep the ship steady and 
level in her course. The sounds of the machin- 
ery were entirely muffled — the strokes of the 
pistons and the whirr of shafts and drive 
wheels did not produce the slightest jar or 
shaking. The happy men and women would, 
indeed, have a holiday long to be remembered. 

“And chatter of voices and music of hearts 
began at once. 

“Marie the Messenger and Aides Joseph 
Bolinbroke, Isaac Eppstein, and Lord Stod- 
dard, formed a party on the top center deck. 

“ ‘Ah, fair Messenger,’ said Bolinbroke, now 


THE ALHAMBRIA 219 


the big man of affairs, ‘your mission has pros- 
pered.’ 

“ ‘Yes; the people heed my warning.’ 

“ ‘What a change the few years have 
brought.’ 

“ ‘My able manager has worked diligently, 
and used wisdom and God as his main powers.’ 

“ ‘Yes; I believe I have managed well.’ 

“ ‘Tell me something of the magnitude of the 
undertaking.’ 

“ ‘Later in the voyage, I shall give you the 
detailed reports: — when the four of us sit in 
council. And next year, when the Temple is 
finished, you will be given the interesting facts 
connected with its construction^the architec- 
tural plans you have seen, when we approved 
them. These things can wait. 

“ ‘Suffice it now for me to bring matters 
quickly to date, since the long conference, in 
Rome. At that time, my organization and Aide 
Eppstein’s, were tremendous. To-day they are 
so great that it is difficult for the human mind 
to comprehend their vastness. 

“ ‘We have converted quiet Bethlehem into 
a populous, modern city. On one side 


220 THE KING'S COMING 


of Judah Avenue, for blocks and blocks, are 
offices of The Book of Life. One palatial 
building, devoted entirely to this work, con- 
tains volumes and volumes, already signed up 
in full, and actually tons of correspondence 
from signers and the field disciples. On the 
basis that each volume will contain t^vo and 
one-half million names, there is provided space 
in a fire-proof vault, in The Book of Life 
Building, for two thousand volumes. These 
are sufficient for the world’s population twice 
over. Two thousand five hundred employees 
are working in this building. Then there are 
paper factories, printing houses, general offices, 
binderies, editors’ quarters, mail receiving 
houses, correspondence headquarters, and 
dozens of enterprises, all of which would make 
you dizzy if I attempted to name them and their 
scope. In my management alone, I employ 
eighty thousand. On the other side of the 
Avenue of Judah are Aide Eppstein’s depart- 
ments, as you know — banking and the tempor- 
ary government of the Kingdom of Israel. The 
Capital will not be fixed in Jerusalem until 
after the royal election next spring. Aide Epp- 


THE ALHAMBRIA 221 


stein employs thirty thousand men and women. 

“ ‘These are the bold outlines of Bethlehem. 
Then in the center of the town — city, now — 
adjoining The Book of Life’s works, on the 
North, is Universal Square — twenty-five acres, 
where over the identical site of the Manger, 
is rising up rapidly the gray granite structure 
of The Lord’s Memorial Temple.’ 

“ ‘It is wonderful ! wonderful !’ declared the 
Messenger, with a gladness that brought big 
round tears from her eyes. 

“ ‘And that is only the beginning !’ added 
the broad, well-fed, prosperous, confidently- 
poised Isaac Eppstein. ‘Ask him what he is 
doing with all this plant.’ 

^Getting The Book of Life signed!’ sug- 
gested Aide Lord Stoddard. 

“The four laughed. 

“ ‘That is literally true !’ asserted Bolin- 
broke. ‘It is all the time the first, very first 
important operation. I have my ablest and 
most resourceful men in The Book of Life 
Building. 

“ ‘But Aide Eppstein had in mind other 
things. 


222 THE KING’S COMING 


“ Tor instance, a large department, working 
over four thousand employees, is devoting abil- 
ity and money to promoting religious revivals 
in every land. No thought or consideration is 
given to doctrines and creeds. We have, in 
this department, the names and addresses of 
all priests, ministers, pastors, preachers, rabbis, 
religious workers, even leaders of Christian, 
Mohammeden, Brahmin, Buddhist, Confucian, 
and lesser beliefs and sects, and weekly printed 
matter goes out to them detailing every jot of 
what you are doing, as reported faithfully by 
Aide Lord Stoddard. Dozens of your photo- 
graphs are in the hands of these holy men; 
there are also photographs of the hundreds 
you have healed. Your sermons are sown 
broadcast. Then along with these pamphlets 
and letters, arguments are sent — all reinforced 
by travelers who go with plans and money 
to aid and wake up the leaders of religion 
and their flocks to a more sincere stand for 
righteousness. 

“ ‘Another thing : I publish a weekly paper 
called “The Internationalist.” This goes 
regularly to every signer of The Book of Life! 


THE ALHAMBRIA 223 


It’s a newspaper — religious, commercial, poli- 
tical, historical, artistic, and literary. We took 
care, in the beginning, to have it admitted in 
all countries — to all nations. Thirty thousand 
people are employed in the offices of The Inter- 
nationalist. It’s a money-maker. It’s a power. 
You will see yet what I’m doing through this 
mighty medium.’ 

“Lord Stoddard fumbled for his monocle, 
carefully put it into place, and said as Bolin- 
broke finished : 

“ ‘Right you are, old chap ! — right you are !’ 
Then looking the famous Bolinbroke over, in 
his old-time way, ‘Gad, from what I’m noting 
as I go on, you are writing down things in that 
sheet — why, bless my soul, you’ve got the bally 
world a-buzz — if you awsk me !’ 

“This characteristic movement of Stod- 
dard’s brought them back to Paris days, and 
they laughed — except Stoddard. He was in 
good humor and spirits, but didn’t see .the 
funny side. 

“ ‘Pon my word, I cawn’t laugh ! I don’t 
see it ! It’s all very well to pile up this mighty 
work — it’s splendid ! Just the thing to do, you 


224 THE KING’S COMING 


know; but you seem to overlook the fact that 
I’m head, shoulders, and all there is to the 
Department of Diplomatic Service ! Incident- 
ally, I am highly honored with the Chief 
Escortship of our dear Messenger — grateful 
and glad I am of that. Meanwhile my blessed 
Diplomatic Service Department is lying dor- 
mant. Honest, now, I have only a very small 
office in Bethlehem, haven’t I? Well, it’s all 
very well, you know, but you are building fire- 
works for me ! One of these days they’ll come 
tumbling about my ears !’ 

“ ‘I’ll provide a building for you then, Del.’ 

“ ‘How many army corps ?’ 

“The Messenger took a hand. 

“ ‘My faithful Aide,’ she said, laying her 
hand lightly on his arm. ‘These you shall have ; 
an army one billion five hundred million strong ! 
And the Commander in Chief shall be the Lord 
of Hosts, who shall come in the heavens with 
great glory, holding the four winds and the 
lightning in his left hand, and the scepter of 
mercy in his right hand. It is He who will re- 
lieve all burdens !’ 

“Lord Stoddard readjusted his monocle and 


THE ALHAMBRIA 225 


looked at the Messenger. There was no re- 
buke in her eyes. She meant it as a consola- 
tion. 

“ ‘Right-0, dear Messenger. I believe you 
with all my heart.’ His voice dropped to 
solemn seriousness, and he continued: ‘If you 
don’t mind my saying so, egad! I’m likely to 
call — have need of my Superior Officer any 
blooming minute I’ 

“There was a pause during which each one 
thought in weighty draughts. 

“ ‘How are the finances, Isaac?’ asked Lord 
Stoddard, changing the subject. 

“ ‘Money? Gold? — all mediums! we cannot 
count it! Of course, we do keep most exact 
records, but the way the money flows in from 
The Book of Life is unbelievable. Why, some 
— many — of the Princes of India have sent in, 
for a single signer, the equivalent of five hun- 
dred thousand dollars! We have fifty signers 
from the United States, averaging each, one 
million dollars. There are two, in America, 
who have given, each on signing, the sum of 
fifty millions ! We do not take in at one sweep 
the under, subtle, powerful meaning of The 


226 THE KING’S COMING 


Book of Life! It’s signing is the individual’s 
silent, secretly personal, most solemn official 
act. 

“ The strain on me has been terrific. I am 
positive that the handling of these enormous 
sums of cash, and the lending and investing of 
it, which is imperative, are being done without 
waste or leakage. And, before Almighty God, 
no man, or company, has received a cent that 
does not represent value in some reasonable, 
equitable form, as judged by wise, conscien- 
tious men!’ 

“‘We know that!’ came from each of the 
others at the same time. 

“ ‘Responsibility !’ said Bolinbroke. 

“ ‘Aye, responsibility !’ repeated Lord Stod- 
dard. 

“There was the interruption of someone’s 
coming through the avenue of deck palms. 

“ ‘You will excuse me. I’m sure. But it 
does seem to me, your conference of holy mat- 
ters has been rather long !’ 

“ ‘Oh ! Lord Ronald-Davies !’ exclaimed the 
Messenger, getting up and advancing to meet 
him. ‘I haven’t seen you since that last night 


THE ALHAMBRIA 


227 


in Rome — although I have sent you on five 
different missions!’ 

“ ‘But we meet on the great ship !’ 

“‘Yes; and we’ve quite finished our con- 
ference.’ 

“The three aides shook hands warmly with 
Lord Ronald-Davies. He had proven a strong 
arm for them, and there was no man on earth 
they respected more, or valued above him in 
all-around usefulness. 

“ ‘Glad to see you.’ ‘Gad, you did great 
work !’ ‘Israel will ever call you blessed 1’ went 
in rapid fire, and many, many ejaculations of 
genuine esteem. 

“ ‘Now this positively will not do!’ frowned 
Lord Ronald-Davies good-naturedly — ‘keep 
the Messenger sitting here in ponderings; it 
will not do ! She must take a turn on deck be- 
fore dinner, or else she’ll have no appetite.’ 

“He bowed very low and laughed. 

“ ‘I shall escort her myself. Lord Stoddard, 
you are no longer Chief Escort — for the mo- 
ment — come, dear Messenger !’ 

“Followers made way for them. Through 
crowded decks, lanes were formed, by rows of 


228 THE KING'S COMING 


admiring friends and devotees on both sides. 

“‘Who is the handsome gentleman?’ was 
asked by scores. 

“There were always numbers close by to an- 
swer: 

“ ‘Oh ! Lord Ronald-Davies, the noted Cana- 
dian peer.’ 

“Hence within fifteen minutes, those who 
did not know Lord Ronald-Davies previously, 
now had his likeness imprinted in their minds 
forever — for he must be in the graces of the 
Messenger. 

“From stern to bow, top deck to lower gang- 
ways, from kitchen to engine room, it was 
whispered : 

“ ‘The Messenger walks with Lord Ronald- 
Davies !’ 

“ ‘You hold a place of supreme importance 
with your followers,’ said Lord Ronald-Davies, 
by way of introducing conversation. 

“ ‘Yes; they are very good to me.’ 

“ ‘Do you ever weary of the strain?’ 

“ ‘Sometimes I am tired. After weeks and 
weeks of moving about with eager, anxious, 
importuning people, I long for a few days’ 


THE ALHAMBRIA 


229 


rest. But I cannot. His work is my work. I 
love it — I waited twenty years to begin. Nov'^ 
I must go on and on, so that His message may 
reach the uttermost corners of the earth.’ 

“ ‘It’s grand to be filled with so deep a love, 
and to know that your mission is one decreed 
by God Himself.’ 

“ ‘It is an abiding peace. Lord Ronald- 
Davies.’ 

“ ‘Nevertheless you have certain physical 
strength, and it becomes exhausted if taxed too 
much.’ 

“ ‘Yes; I’m only human, and there are mo- 
ments when I would run away to the green 
fields and throw myself full length among the 
daisies.’ Then changing quickly; 

“ ‘This ocean voyage will be great for me,’ 

“ ‘Yes; but your followers are here by thous- 
sands.’ 

“ ‘But this is a holiday — I can go about as I 
did in the Coliseum that night in Rome.’ 

The wholesome, full-blooded young peer 
glanced at the fair lady by his side. Her face 
was radiant with happy young life. 

“ ‘Ah ! do look at the dark, dark water !’ she 


230 


THE KING’S COMING 


exclaimed, running to the deck’s railing. ‘I’ve 
not been much on water, you know. By ship 
from Barcelona to Naples, and on a small boat 
from Flushing to Queensboro — never have 
been on the Atlantic. I shall drink in salt air 
and freedom for three days!’ 

“ ‘The old Atlantic is calm and peaceful this 
evening. Often, though, she behaves like a 
maniac.’ 

“ ‘I’ve read of her capers. I should like to 
see the waves come dashing against this mag- 
nificent ship.’ 

“Again his manly gaze took in every detail 
of her exquisitely fine features. Why, she was 
indeed a charming, natural personality! 

“ ‘Look!’ Marie called in musical, animated 
voice, as she directed attention to the crowds 
of passengers. ‘They play — they laugh in en- 
joyment. This will he a happy voyage.’ 

“ ‘There comes the Captain,’ said her escort. 

“Captain Browne-Smith came up, accom- 
panied by Mr. Hartley, of Chicago, M. Mille- 
rand, of Paris, and two stylish ladies. 

“ ‘Lord Ronald-Davies !’ said the dark- 
bearded Captain, ‘may I have the great honor?’ 


THE ALHAMBRIA 231 


“ ‘Certainly, Captain Browne-Smith. Fair 
Messenger, allow me to introduce the general 
of the Alhambria — Captain William Browne- 
Smith.’ 

“Cordial courtesies were exchanged. Then 
the Captain introduced Miss Fannie Hartley 
and her brother, Mr. James Hartley, of Chi- 
cago; and Princess Aida, of Constantinople, 
now of London, and M. Millerand, of Paris. 

“ ‘It’s unnecessary to present Lord Ronald- 
Davies,’ said Princess Aida. ‘We are long since 
acquainted — London friends we are!’ 

“Lord Ronald-Davies came forward and 
greeted the Princess cordially, and expressed 
great delight that she should be one of the fol- 
lowers. It was he who had secured her pas- 
sage. 

“ ‘We have just left your three honorable 
Aides,’ went on the Captain, and having ob- 
tained their assent to a proposal of Princess 
Aida, we were sent on to you, gracious Mes- 
senger, to lay the Princess’s suggestion before 
you. It is most certainly an unexpected honor 
to me — notwithstanding the custom at sea. 


232 THE KING’S COMING 


The Princess Aida will best express her kind 
thought. 

“The Princess sparkled and glittered in her 
distinctive dark beauty, and there was no mis- 
take that she made a startling impression of 
magnetic grace and elegance. She spoke in a 
most becoming manner. 

“ ‘Your indulgence, far-famed Messenger, is 
prayed. These months you have been intense 
in your holy work, surrounded by conven- 
tionalities. I plead for you a respite.’ 

“ ‘It is a privilege, at sea, to sit at the Cap- 
tain’s table. I have suggested that a small 
party whom we have selected, including the 
Captain, your Aides, and we that wait upon 
you, also Lord Ronald-Davies, might persuade 
you to honor us with your esteemed presence 
at meals. The tables next at hand will provide 
your Retinue of Ladies and other members of 
your party. May we beg of you our wish ?’ 

“ ‘It becomes my wish. Princess. I am 
happy that you have troubled to make my trip 
pleasant by rescuing me from conventionali- 
ties.’ 

“ ‘That was just my thought !’ cried the 


THE ALHAMBRIA 233 


Princess triumphantly. ‘I knew you would 
want to be free like other people for a few 
days.’ 

“It was so arranged. The Captain bowed 
with profuse thanks. In fact, everyone 
thought the plan was excellent. 

“The inevitable bugler threw out on the 
fresh ocean air a clear, thrilling tattoo, as the 
w’arning to prepare for dinner. 

“ ‘Thirty minutes more and dinner will be 
ready,’ said Princess Aida jubilantly, giving 
just a suggestion of a skip on the deck. 

“Miss Hartley, a plump, radiant blonde, 
with blue eyes, and perfect white skin, said : 

“ ‘I guess we’ll have to dress for dinner. I 
hope my maid has found my trunks.’ 

“ ‘Your maids are all ready, and waiting for 
you, dear Messenger,’ said the Princess, ‘I saw 
them as I came up.’ 

“The Princess had taken special pains to get 
her bearings at the start. 

“ ‘And now. I’m sure,’ she rattled on airily, 
‘Lord Ronald-Davies will allow Miss Hartley 
and me to show you the way.’ 


234 THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘Sure !’ answered Miss Hartley, nonchal- 
antly, for his Lordship, 

“The Messenger, smiling back at him, went 
away walking between the two young women. 

“A few minutes late, the special dinner party 
came in a body. The grand salon, in the center 
of the ship, and the largest of the three spa- 
cious salles a manger, was an impressive, bril- 
liant tout ensemble of rich decorations, shining 
silver, sparkling cut glass, hundreds of bou- 
quets of roses, big round mahogany tables, 
surrounded by a thousand happy, animated 
men and women. Everybody stood as the Mes- 
senger entered, escorted by Lord Stoddard. 
The orchestra struck up ‘Hail the Queen.’ 

“The Captain’s table was in the middle railed 
circle of the immense banquet room. He re- 
signed his elevated platform place at the head 
of the table to the Messenger and took his seat 
at her left. Aide Bolinbroke sat at her right, 
and next to him came the Princess Aida with 
Lord Ronald-Davies to her right. Aides Lord 
Stoddard and Isaac Eppstein, Miss Hartley, 
and M. Millerand were distributed around the 
remaining plates. 


THE ALHAMBRIA 235 


“After an interval of respectful attention to 
the principal table, guests began a restrained 
hum of conversation. Waiters in white satin 
uniforms darted hither and thither, noiselessly, 
on the thick napped velvet carpet, and the feast 
began. 

“ ‘Are we all signers of The Book of Life?’ 
asked the Captain, as it were, to start his party 
to talking about something. 

“They were, with the exception of Princess 
Aida. 

“ ‘That isolates me, but I’m waiting for my 
chance at the volume.’ 

“ ‘There are two hundred volumes on board,’ 
said Joseph Bolinbroke. ‘You will be given 
an opportunity to-morrow.’ 

“That was unfortunate for two reasons. In 
the first place, did her uncle think for one mo- 
ment she would sign The Book of Life? And, 
secondly, since people always gave appreciable 
sums when they signed, would her uncle con- 
tribute any sum to the Treasury at Bethlehem? 
Her position, therefore, at once became awk- 
ward, to say the least. What would she do? 


236 THE KINGS COMING 


Why had she said she waited for her chance? 
Had she not come to spy out and betray? 

“Nevertheless, Princess Aida lacked nothing 
of resourcefulness, and she consoled herself 
that a way would be found to evade. 

“‘How interesting!’ she exclaimed. ‘You 
have a large supply of this wonderful Book of 
Life: 

“ ‘Oh, these are only a small part of the 
total. There are one thousand volumes at 
work in the field. We are taking this lot on 
the trip around the world.’ 

“ ‘You contemplate going entirely around?’ 

“ ‘Yes; this ship will — I go back to Bethle- 
hem from New York, — ^Aide Eppstein and I. 
The ship goes through the Panama Canal and 
meets the Messenger at San Francisco.’ 

“‘How perfectly lovely! You see, I came 
in at the last moment — my uncle insisted on my 
going. Lord Ronald-Davies reserved my pas- 
sage. I really know very little about this 
marvelous work, and you’ll excuse me if I ask 
any amount of questions.’ 

“ ‘Your country generously consented to the 
Restoration of Israel,’ suggested Eppstein. 


THE ALHAMBRIA 237 


“ ‘Yes, yes; so it did — thanks to Lord Ron- 
ald-Davies>’ she said with just the proper in- 
tonation. ‘I believe some of my relatives, in 
Constantinople and Palestine assisted — Ponti 
Bey and the governor of Elkuds.’ 

“ ‘Quite so. Princess. Then you are with 
us.’ 

“ ‘I’m on this palatial ship, and shall try to 
be so good that the Captain will not object to 
my going all the way to ’ 

“ ‘Israel,’ inserted Captain Browne-Smith. 

“ ‘How perfectly sweet !’ she declared, 
munching at an olive. 

“The Captain would not let The Book of 
Life conversation drop until he vouchsafed the 
information that he had examined his crew on 
the point, and found the entire lot to be sign- 
ers, from himself on down, including cabin 
boys and stokers ! 

“‘This is the Ship of Life!’ rejoined the 
Messenger, ‘and I’m sure before very far on 
its long voyage to Israel there will not be left 
one who has not signed.’ 

“ ‘May it be God’s pleasure,’ reverently con- 
cluded the Captain. 


238 THE KING’S COMING 


“First dishes arrived, and talking was con- 
fined to desultory remarks. 

“Gradually the intoxicating Princess, brim- 
ming with witty and happy sayings, engaged 
Lord Ronald-Davies in rapid-fire repartee, to 
the amusement of all. She superinduced ad- 
miration by not being egotistic, and deftly 
contrived to be the emanating center of enter- 
taining conversation, dropping in choice bits of 
refined, compelling humor when necessary to 
stimulate lagging or commonplace spots. 

“That night a full moon bathed the outgoing 
steamer with white, silvery light, and poured 
iridescent oil upon the wide ocean. Every- 
where shimmered with soothing illumination. 
The Alhambria had only the implacable waters 
to share with it in this profligate splendor. The 
swish of ploughed up waves against broad 
sides of steel was but a murmuring against in- 
terruption in perfect slumber. 

“The Messenger formed the magnet among 
five hundred ladies in the open deck parlor. 

“Along the promenade, round and round the 
broad deck, arm in arm, walked Lord Ronald- 
Davies and the Turkish Princess. The Mes- 


THE ALHAMBRIA 239 


senger could see them as they passed, going 
fore and aft. The Princess could see the Mes- 
senger, but was intent upon one thing first: 
to win Lord Ronald-Davies. 

“So, on and on they drifted, in and out 
among thousands, for there was room for 
all — and far to the edge of the stern, she ling- 
ered now and again to talk of the moon or the 
stars, or the laughing yet sleeping sea. She 
drew and coaxed him into fields farthest away, 
that she might discover him unawares and 
weave her silken net to capture him by easiest 
effort. Nor was he averse to being entertained 
and wheedled by a bright, attractive woman 
who had a mind and ideas of her own. 
Therefore, he listened and went on, cease- 
lessly round the clean, white deck, regaled and 
happy under the soothing chatter of her 
voice. 


CHAPTER XVII 


“three days” 


Cf 


^OOD morning, Mademoiselle Helna. I 
have been waiting for an hour for 
someone to walk with me. The decks 
are washed, and there are but few about. 
Come. The sun is glorious.’ 

“ ‘Certainly, Princess, I feel lonely myself.’ 

“ ‘Where are your lady companions?’ 

“ ‘Oh, they dress, dress ! I’m not so particu- 
lar.’ 


“ ‘How is the Messenger?’ 

“ ‘Excellent spirits when we twelve went in 
and knelt down to be blessed.’ 

“ ‘You go through this every morning?’ 

“ ‘Certainly. It keeps us in holy state. 
Princess.’ 

“ ‘I might be afraid I’d become too good.’ 

“ ‘Princess!’ 

‘“ ‘You startle me by that look of concern.’ 

“ ‘The fair Princess must be good, too. The 
Judgment must not overtake one so beautiful.’ 
“ ‘Oh, I’m all right, Helna. Let’s walk now. 


THREE DAYS 241 


and get our lungs filled with this fine salt in- 
fused air.’ 

“They skipped on briskly for a hundred 
yards, or more. 

“ ‘Helna, you are a picture — cheeks as red as 
a blushing rose. How healthy you are, child !’ 

“ ‘I do feel well.’ 

“ ‘And happy?’ 

“ ‘Ah, yes!’ 

“ ‘And you only do this accompanying act. 
No balls; no beaux?’ 

“Helna only looked at her questioner in a 
kind of semi-understanding state. 

“ ‘No, no. Princess. But I am both well and 
happy.’ 

“‘And pretty!’ 

“ ‘I cannot say.’ 

“ ‘It’s a pity, Helna, you couldn’t spend a 
season in London. You have no idea what 
recreation there is in a great city. And with 
your fresh, neat form — those eyes ! — the young 
gentlemen would rave over you !’ 

“Helna only smiled. Had she been more 
fortunate in her early life, she might have been 
a frolicsome flirt, for she was a born coquette. 


242 THE KING'S COMING 


without the vices. In her travels over Europe, 
she had often looked askance at the fine fel- 
lows who would have risked their necks for 
one ten minutes’ chat; but the Messenger 
might not approve — she owed her happy life 
to God’s work. Had He not lifted her up out 
of woe and misery ? Hence she only smiled. 

“ ‘Wouldn’t you like it now? — be honest.’ 

“ ‘You are very winsome, Princess. Really, 
though, I could not like what you talk of — my 
life is fixed.’ 

“ ‘Yes, yes, I know. I’m only asking to find 
out how you feel — whether vou are as other 
girls.’ 

“ ‘Of course I am.’ 

“ ‘I thought so. You are such a darling 
creature.’ 

“ ‘But why all this concern about me. Prin- 
cess ? Do you not see me in health and happy 
in my work?’ 

“ ‘I am deeply interested in you.’ 

“ ‘Very kind.’ 

“ ‘I know much of you, Helna.’ 

“Helna was silent. Just the suggestion of a 
cloud drew over her face. 


THREE DAYS 243 


“ ‘Yes.’ 

“ ‘You do not seem interested. I did not 
mean to be rude. I thought you would thank 
me to tell you some things I know. It was 
stated a few years ago that you did not have 
any recollection of your parents. Of them I 
could tell you much, if you would not mis- 
judge me.’ 

“They walked more rapidly, and got out on 
the main deck to the prow, and stood leaning 
against the great wooden model of The Book 
of Life. 

“ ‘At one time. Princess, your kindness 
would have overwhelmed me — for I was eager 
to know of my mother. Now it is barely pos- 
sible. I know more of myself than you.’ 

“Princess Aida expressed surprise, but re- 
assured Helna by kissing her and smoothing 
her hand. 

“ ‘Then you know that Juliette, the Comedie 
Frangaise dancer, was your mother? 

“ ‘And that Lord Stoddard here is your half 
brother?’ 

“ ‘Yes.’ 

“ ‘Who told you, Helna?’ 


244 THE KINGS COMING 


“ ‘My brother, Lord Stoddard, found it out 
himself, and told me. He is a real brother 
to me.’ 

“The Princess was set adrift in her own 
dark scheme. She had mistaken Lord Stod- 
dard’s affection for Helna, for a love affair, 
and knowing principal facts concerning the 
old Lord Stoddard’s extraordinary marriage, 
and subsequent desertion, and believing Lord 
Stoddard, the Escort, did not know, the Prin- 
cess had some fiendish idea of starting a rup- 
ture, or scandal, in the Messenger’s party. 

“ ‘Perfectly lovely of Lord Stoddard.’ 

“Helna could not understand the Princess’s 
familiarity, and felt ill at ease. 

“Perhaps a little enlightenment from her 
might do the Princess more good than to resent 
her inquiries. So thought Helna. 

“ ‘Of course, you know nothing of my 
mother?’ 

“ ‘Except that she was Juliette, the dancer, 
lawfully married to Lord Stoddard, etc. I 
suppose she died shortly after that. Poor 
thing! — and so young! Only seventeen when 
you were born !’ 


THREE DAYS 245 


“At that moment the Retinue of Ladies ap- 
proached, — a bevy of snow-white costumes 
flapping in the wind; near a dozen happy faces 
in the ocean sunlight. 

“ ‘No, Princess, you are mistaken in your 
surmises. My unfortunate condition was an 
unavoidable, curious accident, in which I was 
lost, but by no fault of my mother’s, and when 
I gave Lord Stoddard a bit of evidence in my 
possession, the value of which I did not know, 
he quickly found my mother and united us.’ 

“ ‘Great ! — is it possible !’ 

“ ‘Mamma, come here,’ called Helna. 

“ ‘Mamma, the Princess Aida, of London.’ 

“ ‘I’m so glad. Three of the ladies and I 
were out last night when you were introduced,’ 
said Madame Calleur — her second husband 
was killed in the World War. 

“ ‘It’s perfectly wonderful that you should 
be a member of the Retinue with your daugh- 
ter,’ said the Princess, quite surprised out of 
her usual self-possession. 

“A well-set up, young appearing, dain'ty, 
dignified, haughty, very pretty brunette, of 
France’s purest type, gazed at the confused 


246 THE KING’S COMING 


Princess; then bidding her the joys of a glori- 
ous voyage, turned and walked away with her 
arm linked in Helna’s — ^both daughter and 
mother the same size and figure : and each im- 
bued with inimitable, undaunted, unshakable 
belief in His Second Coming! 

“ ‘Strange romantic ending I’ thought the 
Princess aloud as she joined Miss Hartley, 
who came up as the Retinue did, and waited on 
one side. 

“ ‘What’s strange. Princess?’ 

“ ‘Ah, two of the Retinue of ladies are re- 
lated — mother and daughter.’ 

“‘You don’t say!’ exclaimed the American 
girl. ‘Which two?’ 

“ ‘The small dark ones — holding hands 
now.’ 

“ ‘I see — oh ! one is the Messenger’s soloist. 
Say, she has a wonderful voice. I heard her 
sing at the Crystal Palace. I thought the other 
her sister.’ 

“Princess Aida did not see anything to be 
gained by relating past stories, and with a toss 
of her head, dismissed the whole aflair. She 
would have preferred a score over Lord Stod- 


THREE DAYS 247 


dard, whom she suspected now of knowing 
that Uncle Brummell called on the Pope. She 
would forget it, and catch the foxes in another 
hole. 

“Therefore, she mixed in and out among the 
light-hearted and gay, and collected unto her- 
self in games and promenades, a group of ad- 
mirers. Everywhere — all over, the Princess’s 
bright, royal blue deck veil could be seen flow- 
ing in ripples in the breeze! In fact, even on 
God’s ship, she was the attraction — a Princess ! 
Lord Ronald-Davies, according to the Captain, 
knew her people in Palestine. The Canadian 
peer spent half his time with her I A Princess 
so chique and stylish, witty and dashing — 
worth a million and a half dollars, could very 
well be a star on a sea holiday. 

“The Princess was busy! The conflict of 
a restless, untiring spirit with anything quiet 
or reserved, kept her in transports of one trivi- 
ality after another. She must be all or none, 
and she had the fine commonsense of not being 
forward or rude — unless there was a definite 
object to be gained. Also, the titled belle of 


248 THE KING’S COMING 


the Alhambria had the faculty of knowing all 
that went on around her. 

“That afternoon and late into the soft 
moonlight, she remained exclusively in com- 
pany with Lord Ronald-Davies. He was be- 
ginning to talk closer to the line of serious sub- 
jects. She held him in the offing, leaving but 
a single tiny thread of hope dangling to lead 
him on — she hoped to real love-making. The 
second day and the second night were repeti- 
tions of undivided attention to Lord Ronald- 
Davies. Passengers whispered behind their 
hands : ‘See them over there — an attachment, 
certain.’ 

“The gaiety of Princess Aida and her coterie 
was a glitter aside. The Messenger absorbed 
the homage and eager attention of the family 
of thousands on the Alhambria. When she 
appeared on deck with her Retinue, or her 
Aides, for fresh air, the floating populace was 
at her feet, salaaming as though she had 
stepped out of heaven. 

“And yet, at moments, there was a strange 
pain at the Messenger’s heart. She saw her 
hero of girlhood fancies swept away by the 


THREE DAYS 249 


charms of the Eastern Princess. She hid the 
pang and no one could have suspected that she 
cared. Somehow, that first evening on board, 
the wild delightful hope had been born in her 
breast that she would repeat her freedom in 
the Coliseum, that last night in Rome. Had 
Lord Ronald-Davies not awakened that flut- 
tering hope by walking with her on deck? But 
the Princess came and took him away! Her 
fond, but secret emotion was put back into the 
far, deep, secret cell, and locked by her Voices 
that said : ‘Wait, wait. Jesus first. Does He 
not know what is sufficient for your heart, and 
what and when to give it to thee? Wait.’ 

“And sorrowfully she waited, by accepting 
the kindly injunction to trust her Master to 
deal with her heart. She continued to be queen. 
At luncheons and dinners, she sat upon her 
elevated platform, at the Captain’s table, and 
smiled the royal smile at her subjects, while 
her inner prisoner, Marie, was hungry for 
just one kindly glance from her gallant knight 
of valor. 

“Justness and righteousness, heavenly gra- 
ciousness and guilelessness, must be the Mes- 


250 THE KING’S COMING 


senger’s role in the busy, noisy earth ; and con- 
ferences with Bolinbroke, Eppstein, and Stod- 
dard sufficed to keep her eyes on the vision of 
eternal redemption and her zeal unabated and 
untarnished. They had great, philanthropic 
schemes for the world which she had come to 
warn; her share in everything predominated 
because the Christ appointed her to be his Her- 
ald ; and she baptized herself continuously with 
the glory that emanated from the throne, un- 
seen to even her Aides and Retinue. She had 
meat from whence they did not know. 

“Only once did the sharp, jealous eyes of 
the Princess of the East think they saw. It 
was while the Messenger spoke to Lord Ron- 
ald-Davies, at the last luncheon. His Lord- 
ship had not proposed as yet, and the Princess 
puzzled her brain and distressed her heart for 
the reason. The holiness of the Messenger, at 
that moment, neglected ever so slightly a crev- 
ice into the womanl)' chamber, and the Princess 
got a peep at its sacredness. She then exam- 
ined Lord Ronald-Davies’s face, but there wa.s 
no clew of response. His eyes were looking, 
though, and if he were not a blind man, he 


THREE DAYS 251 


would get the fleeting glimpse she got — if he 
did, she, the Princess, would be lost. 

“The fire of jealousy flamed high in Princess 
Aida’s fervid, sensitive, Turkish heart. She 
excused herself and ran to her room to cry. 
All the world turned black. She threw herself 
on the floor of her bedchamber and sobbed like 
an illtreated child. The storm raged within 
her, until it summoned all the demons of re- 
venge and bitter hatred and murder. She 
would kill him ! She hated the Messenger ! 

“As quickly as it came, the fury passed. 

“ T’m a fool,’ the Princess said, sitting up 
and drying her tears. 

“ ‘The Messenger in love ! How could I 
think it ! — she’s too holy to love a man. I must 
be mad. But she shall not have him !’ the par- 
tially demented woman shouted as she lapsed 
again into jealousy. 

“ ‘Pooh !’ said she, after putting on a new 
gown that was a dream of loveliness, and tie- 
ing it about the waist with a large dark red 
sash that became her Engli.sh freshened, olive- 
hued complexion immensely; T’ll brush it 
aside. He shall love me as I love him.’ 


252 THE KING'S COMING 


“Nevertheless the Princess Aida, after that, 
regarded the Messenger as a mighty some- 
thing, a powerful influence to be feared. 

“In the afternoon, later. Lord Ronald-Dav- 
ies almost stepped over the bars the Princess 
had so cleverly laid low for him. He passed 
by on the slimmest margin, and with the 
sportsman’s spirit, she tried again, loving him 
the more! However, he released her hand, 
with a pressure, she thought, and suggested a 
turn on the deck would be the thing. 

“Bright, delicately perfumed veiling and rib- 
bons flew frantically in the wind again, and 
followers said: ‘There they go!’ Her heart 
ached no more — her tongue rattled on and on, 
doing service to her excited, feverishly work- 
ing brain. Another moonlit night, out by 
the Captain’s bridge, and she would certainly 
win! 

“Rather suddenly he handed her in at the 
parlor door, saying politely enough: 

“ ‘You will excuse me. I shall now go to the 
barber.’ 

“But it was too early to go to the barber. 
He might have walked a little longer. 


THREE DAYS 253 


“ ‘I’m not piqued !’ she murmured, running 
her eyes about for a chair. 

“ ‘I’ll sit down near the door here until he 
comes again,’ she went on, and threw herself 
down on a semi-circular lounge seat. 

“The more the Princess thought of his de- 
parture, the more slight or unconcern there 
seemed to be in it for her high-tensioned feel- 
ings. 

“ ‘It is a capital solution for the political 
welfare of nations,’ said a voice — a man’s — 
just behind the Princess, on the reverse seat of 
the upholstery. 

“ ‘It’s the only plan that will successfully 
internationalize,’ added Eppstein. 

“ ‘If you awsk me, I believe it is of much con- 
cern to every government.’ 

“ ‘Oho !’ the Aides talked. Had she, the 
Princess, not come to see and listen? Her ears 
immediately pricked up — the cat instinct in her 
awoke and crouched. 

“ ‘It is, your Lordship, and I have prepared 
for that all important contingency by drawing 
up a document and getting it signed by ten or 
a dozen diplomats and high statesmen in 


254 THE KING’S COMING 


Europe.’ This was Joseph Bolinbroke speak- 
ing. 

“Stoddard went on; 

“ ‘Of course, this document, or agreement, 
let us say, you and I will present next week 
to the President of the United States, in pri- 
vate.’ 

“ ‘Not the original, see? In fact, no paper, 
until we get him in the frame of mind.’ 

“ ‘I see, Joe. If he is found to be unap- 
proachable?’ 

“We go on without him and force our issue.’ 

“An attendant came and announced that the 
Messenger was ready to receive them in audi- 
ence. 

“As they arose to go, Bolinbroke said: ‘I 
have the document in my trunk. We shall 
examine it carefully to-night.’ 

“Was this not the seditious thing the Prin- 
cess sought? What was in that signed docu- 
ment? 

“With such a woman, a wish is the electric 
current of action. She got up, walked straight- 
way to Joseph Bolinbroke’s suite, and pro- 


THREE DAYS 255 


ceeded to search through leather bags and 
trunks for the paper ! 

“The conference with the Messenger made 
such an audacious act comparatively safe, she 
reasoned, and when the door had been securely 
bolted within, she settled down leisurely to find 
the signed document. 

“There were three trunks besides numerous 
packages and bags. The Princess looked 
through two bags before she recalled that he 
had said it was in a trunk. ‘Of course,’ said 
she, working fast, ‘it’s sure to be in the one 
trunk that is locked, but I’ll search these, then 
I’ll know.’ 

“The first trunk contained no papers. The 
daring woman kept on steadfastly, as if she 
might be seeking a special garment to wear at 
dinner. At the bottom of the second trunk 
there were papers. They were scanned one 
after another and cast aside. 

“Near one corner her keen eyes fell upon a 
thick package, labelled ‘International agree- 
ment.’ Her fingers flew in undoing the stout 
cord that bound it. 

“Voices were heard in the reception room 


256 THE KING’S COMING 


without ! A strong hand laid hold on the door 
handle and gave it a wrench. 

“ ‘The steward always closes this door. It ' 
fits tight and I have to use brute force to open 
it.’ 

“The Princess recognized Bolinbroke’s 
heavy bass voice. 

“ ‘Jab it with your knee,’ said Lord Stoddard. 

“The Princess stopped breathing and squat- 
ted like a scared partridge. There was no other 
exit! Beginning to tremble violently, she 
dashed back into the trunk the things she had 
pulled out and put down its lid. 

“ ‘I’ll have to call the steward,’ declared Bo- 
linbroke after efforts that threatened to burst 
in the thick, obstinate door. 

“The frightened girl heard him pressing the 
button, and could also hear a bell ringing vio- 
lently somewhere down the passageway. 

“Fright in the Turk quickly gives way to a 
nervous, but peculiarly shrewd cunning. She 
passed into that state, and as swiftly as the 
jaguar leaps, sprang to the bed, a massive 
mahogany structure, and neatly flapped out 
the coverlet so that it hung loosely to the floor. 


THREE DAYS 257 


Then she slipped the bolt back into its sheath, 
and swung her body under the bed, safely out 
of sight! 

“The steward came and opened the door 
with ease. 

“ ‘You had the bally thing about open, Joe. 
You should have given it one more push.’ 

“ ‘Steward, what did you pull down this 
trunk for?’ called out Bolinbroke. 

“ ‘I don’t remember having done so, sir. 
Perhaps in cleaning or dusting ’ 

“Bolinbroke grumbled. 

“The other two men entered, and waited 
while Bolinbroke got out his document. He 
handed it to Lord Stoddard. 

“His Lordship read it in silence, and passed 
it over to Bolinbroke. 

“The Princess clasped both hands over her 
heart as though to shield its loud beatings. 

“ ‘Is that you breathing so hard, Isaac?’ 
asked Joseph, who had seated himself on the 
edge of the bed. 

“Eppstein made no reply. The Princess, 
underneath, nearly smothered herself in con- 


258 THE KING’S COMING 


trolling her breathing. The interval of silence 
seemed an age. 

“ ‘You’ve got up a great scheme,’ declared 
Lord Stoddard, lighting a cigar. ' 

“The Aides discussed the project for an 
hour. At no time, however, did they read the 
document, or mention names attached to it as 
signers. The Princess noted all the frag- 
mentary statements she could while hoping the 
men would finish and leave. 

“At the end of an interminable conference, 
so it seemed to her, Bolinbroke put the docu- 
ment into an inner pocket, and he and his com- 
panions vacated the room. 

“The Princess listened until sounds of their 
footsteps died down the hall, and then came 
out and ran frantically to her suite. For- 
tunately there was only the ship cat in the 
hall, and it darted up the stairway, uttering 
loud mews. 

“A short time afterwards. Lord Ronald- 
Davies said to her on deck: 

“ ‘My word ! but you are flushed. Are you 
ill?’ 

“ ‘I’ve been lying down.’ 


THREE DAYS 259 


“So she had, but not in the fashion of luxuri- 
ous princesses. 

“By the time of the going down of the sun 
that evening, the close of day before the last 
night on board, clouds gathered on the murky 
steppes of Newfoundland Banks, and threat- 
ening mutterings rolled out to sea. Thunders 
boomed, and receded in growling waves over 
the black calm of the Atlantic. ‘A storm!’ 
gasped the faint-hearted. Lightning tore 
jagged rents in the slate-colored heavens. The 
rain descended. The hurricane came. The 
old ocean heaved and roared I Avalanches of 
blue and green, foam-flecked waters came 
against the Alhambria, gnashing and slashing 
her for being an obstacle in their route of 
terror. With flags and banners hauled in, 
hatches battened down, and ports closed, the 
monster sea witch, built by man, bored her 
way ruthlessly through the billows, neither 
slackening speed nor turning to the right or the 
left. New York Harbor in three days and six 
hours — storm or no storm! 

“There was no elaborate dinner that night. 
The passengers for the most part slunk away 


260 THE KING^S COMING 


to their suites. Only the Messenger and her 
Aides were at the center table — the Captain ate 
his dinner on the bridge. 

“Princess Aida lay in her bed, wide awake 
and thinking as only a woman of her kind can 
think. There had been no last moonlight night 
on the lookout deck! Yet she hoped, clinching 
her teeth: T shall have him!’ Wearying of 
these hot, disturbing thoughts, she considered 
in cool, calculating details all that she planned 
against the Aides and the Messenger ! 

“And then she slept, still writing, over and 
over, the cablegram she would send from New 
York!” 


CHAPTER XVIII 



ALL THE AMERICAS 

jETWEEN Nantucket Light Ship and 
Quarantine, the Alhamhria met the 
welcome of all the Americas. 

“By midnight the furor of wind and rain 
had ceased, leaving the grand craft victorious, 
and clean and polished for the sunlight of a 
glorious June day. The sea had calmed to 
small ripples that broke and glimmered like 
baby smiles. Banners and flags, fresh and 
brilliant, were run up again, and Sousa’s Band 
stood forward on the main deck. Thus God’s 
barque of good tidings was trimmed and ready 
for the panorama spread out on the face of the 
Atlantic by combined hands of all the countries 
of the Western Hemisphere. 

“The Messenger and her thousands, attired 
in uniforms and best regalia, crowded the 
decks and beheld a grand spectacle of Amer- 
ica’s whole-heartedness. The bosom of the 
ocean, for miles, was a solid field of patriotic 
splendor. Only a wide lane straight ahead of 


262 THE KING’S COMING 


the Alhambria had been left unobstructed. On 
each side of this free avenue were arranged 
six flags of American countries — twelve in 
all — formed by tiny sailboats, painted the vari- 
ous colors, and placed touching each other, so 
as to make large flags of the American na- 
tions, with only a narrow margin of blue water 
dividing them. The view was a most effective 
inspiration. Every movement of the restless 
deep caused the composite flags to wave and 
rulfle in glad greetings to the Messenger. On 
the right side were emblems of the United 
States, Mexico, Chili, Peru, Venezuela, Gui- 
ana. On the left, the Union Jack for the Do- 
minion of Canada, and individual flags for 
Brazil, Argentine Republic, a Representative 
flag for Republic of Central American states, 
including Colombia and separate ones for 
groups of British West Indies, and Republic 
of Cuba and Independent West Indies. 

“While the hurrah of salutes continued, 
there came flying high over the midway, a huge 
white aeroplane, shaped in the graceful lines of 
the American Eagle. He carried, flowing from 
his talons, a scroll banner, bearing in gold let- 


ALL THE AMERICAS 263 


ters the words : ‘All the Americas Welcome the 
Messenger.’ From the Eagle’s beak dropped 
a golden rope. This was made fast to the 
prow of the Alhamhria, and the winged glory 
bird circled rapidly and led the Ship of His 
Second Coming into New York Harbor. 

“A special slip had been constructed at the 
battery, and into this the Eagle guided the 
Alhambria without the assistance of noisy 
tugs, for the berth of the liner ran alongside 
the pier. 

“New York City flung out a dazzle of mag- 
nificence in the noonday sun. London’s recep- 
tion and Berlin’s military display could both 
remain unrivaled for grandeur, but New York 
— Manhattan Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx, the 
cities of Jersey, — presented something distinc- 
tive, which set itself apart to nod in friendly 
competition to the Old World beyond. Sky- 
scrapers and streets, boats in the harbor, and 
bridges over East River, were a sheen of elab- 
orate decorations. Hundreds of thousands of 
visitors from Latin America and British do- 
minions, in the North, with the resident mil- 
lions, mixed and mingled in the shining net- 


264 THE KING’S COMING 


work, and cheered the landing of the Modern 
Pilgrims. 

“Once more a float of white awaited the 
Messenger and her Retinue of Ladies. But 
there were no stamping steeds with outwalk- 
ers. An intricate mass of satin ribbons, of 
varying lengths, were fastened to the front of 
it, and twenty-five hundred young ladies, cos- 
tumed to represent white doves, drew the 
queen of purity through the streets and ave- 
nues to Madison Square Garden. 

“This was the Messenger’s entry into the 
West.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


“one of the twelve” 

© UT the march of victory ran too 
smoothly even in that advanced age. 
“It was not so in Israel’s exit from 
Egypt, for although God led them by a cloud 
by day and a pillar of fire by night, and talked 
with the elders and the people, in thunders, 
from Mount Sinai, yet again and again they 
sinned, provoking wrath and punishment upon 
them. Christ, in his humble visit to earth, 
healed the sick, made the blind to see, and 
raised the dead. But they refused to believe 
Him, and the Romans nailed him to the Cross. 

“The Son of Man, in his journeyings round 
about Nazareth, Capernaum, the Sea of Gal- 
lilee, and Jerusalem, did not choose to come in 
all His glory, as He promised for His Second 
Coming, nor did He and John the Baptist have 
Bolinbrokes for managers and a thousand mil- 
lion shekels of gold to promote the Kingdom. 
Had they employed those instruments they 
might have dimmed the carnal eyes of Greece 


266 


THE KING’S COMING 


and Rome with the glare. But that was not 
the method. The simple Husbandman went 
out to sow the seed, by hand, out of His wallet ; 
when the harvest should be yellow with age, 
then there would be a feast in His Father’s 
house, and the King of Heaven and Earth 
would come to gather the sheaves — and to 
separate the wheat from the chaflf. 

“There would be chaff, then, even on the 
occasion of His Second Coming. 

“The Messenger, with Bolinbroke and Epp- 
stein and the born diplomat. Lord Stoddard, 
had caught the world when she was sore and 
bleeding from war, and frightened at her riv- 
ers of blood, and by power given from heaven 
and superior managment, supplemented by 
The Book of Life and the inflowing of the 
wealth of nations, had forced a wave of vic- 
torious conquest upon mankind and their cities 
far beyond anything recorded in legends or 
history. And yet it could not have been less. 
The Christ promised complete handling of 
mankind in a last judgment. His Messenger, to 
warn the people, out of consideration — to give 
them a last chance — would not be accepted by 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 267 


the modern world unless she had come with 
endowments from God, and with a Bolinbroke ; 
hence the pageantries of Rome, Berlin, Lon- 
don, and all the Americas. And at the end He 
said there would be chaff and goats. Two 
would be sowing in the field; one taken, the 
other left. 

“Therefore the tares, the chaff, the goats, 
those that would be left, could only be expected 
to organize resistance and make trouble for 
the Messenger as they did in the old times for 
Moses and the Christ. 

“There must be a hindrance somewhere, or 
else the diamonds of excellence could not be 
more to be desired than pebbles on the beach. 

“America received the Messenger and be- 
lieved in her warnings. North and South, East 
and West, signed The Book of Life. Canada 
accepted. Latin Americans from the Southern 
republics put down their names, and prepared 
for His Second Coming. From the pageant 
in New York, those from South America and 
the Dominion who had come, on Bolinbroke’s 
request, since the Messenger could only go on 
a straight sweep to San Francisco, with few 


268 THE KING’S COMING 


stops, all went home happy and satisfied. The 
Messenger spoke to them in New York, night 
after night, healed them and the people 
throughout the city. She worked wonders, 
moreover, in a manner requisite for converting 
to belief obstinate modern minds. 

“And afterward, she would travel west- 
ward, still among the United States’ clean- 
souled, practical, wholesome citizens, to re- 
mind them to prepare for that holier state of 
the world which is to come. 

“Hence the fact that opposition culminated 
in the United States is no reflection on its 
people. It had to come. It was God’s way. 
It must be granted, however, that no national- 
ity would have attempted opposition for all 
nations with the same level-headed boldness as 
did these smooth-shaven, lanky Americans. 

“When the Alhambria landed at the pier in 
New York, the Princess Aida had no relish for 
the parade, or anything other than direct, 
fiendish efforts to retard the onward march of 
the Messenger. She, therefore, went at once 
to the telegraph office, and penned the follow- 
ing cable to London : 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 269 


“ ‘Aides of Messenger have gigantic 
scheme for upsetting nations and substituting 
internationalism. Document already signed 
by leading European statesmen and diplo- 
mats. Almost captured it yesterday. Will 
keep after it. See English Premier and start 
interference. 

“ ‘Aida.’ 


“The while she wrote, a sleek-skinned, lan- 
tern-jawed young fellow, with hands deep in 
trouser pockets, misshapen Panama hat on 
the back of his head, and a two-for-a-quarter 
cigar in his mouth, brazenly looked over her 
shoulder and read every word of the cable as 
she put it down. 

“ ‘The impudence !’ she exclaimed, detecting 
his presence by the whiff of his cigar. 

“ ‘Beg your pardon. I did not intend to 
blow smoke into your face.’ 

“ ‘You were reading my cable, sir !’ 

“ ‘My eye may have caught a stray word.’ 

“ ‘How dare you !’ 

“ ‘Just passing by, an’ we Americans like to 
see what’s goin’ on, you know.’ 

“ ‘I’ll have you arrested.’ 

“The Princess beckoned to a big bluecoat, 
who came on leisurely, swinging his club. 


270 


THE KING’S COMING 


“The pertinent, pugnacious young man 
waved to the policeman to move on, and he 
did. 

“ ‘Don’t get funny, Jane,’ he said. ‘I did 
read the message you wrote. You’re just the 
kid I’m chasin’. Now, look — ee here. I’m a 
detective in the special diplomatic service, sent 
here to pick up what I could find off’m that 

ship. I seed you ploughin’ ofif, mad as h as 

a hen, and knowd you’d got a grudge on. I 
slunk along at yer heels until you blew into 
this joint. I guessed right. You’re one of 
them boobies sent out by Scotland Yard, an’ 
maybe you’n me can hit it up all right, all 
right, eh?’ 

“Jim Blokker — that was his name — shifted 
his black cigar with his tongue from the left 
corner of his mouth to the right, tilted it sky- 
ward a bit, and puffed away without taking his 
curious round, yellow-blue eyes from the 
astonished girl’s face. 

“ ‘I give you to understand, boor, that I’m a 
Princess, unaccustomed ’ 

“ ‘Hello, now girlie, come off! Be convinced. 
I’m your pal. There’s a lot of rich fellers here 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 271 


an’ gov’ment men — patriots — what likes jobs 
— have hit up a scheme of some sort, got great 
dreams about American prestige, an’ they’ve 
got it in for this new-fangled last judgment 
bunch. They’re after Joe Bolinbroke’s goat. 
I see you’re out same as me, for the same thing. 
I’m just a plain detective — a good’n they says 
— an’if yer’ll come off’n yer high boss, I kin 
put yer next to the swellest gang in New York.’ 

“The jealous beauty watched his wax-cast 
face that never moved a muscle, and studied his 
eyes while he spoke. She saw nothing vicious 
in him. Anyway, he had caught her, and she 
might do worse than to listen to him. 

“ Tf you would convince me,’ she said half 
timidly. 

“ ‘Sure.’ 

“ ‘How?’ 

“ ‘You jist give that paper a flip ‘cross the 
water, an’ I’ll take you and knock you down 
to ’em.’ 

“ ‘Yes, you’ll knock me down!’ 

“For the first time Jim laughed. His face 
never budged, though — one eye squinted a 
little as he set free a crusty, dry cackle. 


272 THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘No, no! I hain’t a-goin’ to hit yer! Jist 
like you Londoners — git everything wrong end 
to. ‘Knock down’ means to introduce.’ 

“ ‘All right. Wait until I send this cable.’ 

“ ‘Give it t’me — I’ll send it.’ 

“The Princess had no time to object. Jim 
snatched it out of her hand, and strode away 
with it to the counter. While he waited for 
the receiving clerk, he took a pencil note of the 
addressee, boldly writing it while the Princess 
looked on in amazement. He also paid the 
charges, and refused reimbursement. 

“ ‘Not a bit of it, Jane. Why, it was dead 
easy to git hitched up with you, and the wad 
I’ll have shoved at me would pay for a thou- 
sand cables like yourn^ 

“ ‘Come on, now. We’ll git a taxi, and hike 
it for an uptown club.’ 

“ ‘Oh no, no. I’ll go to my hotel first. You 
can call. I’ve got all my luggage to ’ 

“ ‘Luggage is yer trunks?’ 

“ ‘Yes.’ 

“ ‘All right; kin I help yer?’ 

“ ‘No; I can manage.’ 

“ ‘What time may I call?’ 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 273 


“ ‘Oh, at five o’clock, please, at the St. 
Regis.’ 

“ ‘An’ ask fer?’ 

“ ‘The Princess Aida.’ 

“ ‘Yer hain’t kiddin’ me about that Princess 
bunk?’ 

“ ‘No; I’m a Turkish princess!’ she snapped, 
much irritated. 

" ‘Par-don me!’ he said. Then whistling a 
queer note ‘got it in fer Ike? Rachel, an’ the 
little ones, eh? Quite see the rig now! Say, 
Princess, you an’ me ain’t gonta lock horns no 
more ! I’ll be at the St. Regis at five to the dot. 
Will send up my card — Jimmie Blokker’s my 
name. Jist call me Jim.’ 

“Through Jimmie’s introduction, after 
which he dropped beyond the horizon. Prin- 
cess Aida came in contact with a group of 
rich, strong, widely experienced American 
men, who had been organized by a secret dip- 
lomatic service. They advised with her about 
ways and means. It was of immense import 
to them to learn that a document, most likely 
seditious in character, existed. They and their 
European colleagues were put to it for any 


274 THE KING'S COMING 


cause for complaint against the movement, 
but this document, undoubtedly, contained 
just what the Old World regime required to 
start a revolt against The Book of Life. 

“The New York and London contingents of 
opposition had tried to stir up trouble when 
the Messenger compelled Russia to agree to 
the freedom of Israel. They urged then, that 
the Messenger’s handling of the government 
was open, flagrant intimidation. But Bolin- 
broke, and particularly the quiet, catlike work- 
ings of that master of diplomats, Stoddard, 
rendered their attempt ineffective. 

“Now, if the Princess Aida, or anyone, 
could obtain the ‘International Agreement’ 
from Bolinbroke, they, the defenders of indi- 
vidual entities in nations, would wake up leg- 
islatures, reichstags, congresses, and parlia- 
ments to the enormity of the greatest crime 
intended for the degradation of the preroga- 
tives of powers. 

“Were not the nations of earth, at that very 
moment, deadlocked in international congress 
session at The Hague? Representatives from 
various welfare societies had been sitting in 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 275 


divers places for three years, trying to work 
out satisfactory plans for the union of nations, 
as a conclusion to the World War. No 
progress had been made. Finally, some of 
the powers, having representatives at The 
Hague, became so disgusted and distrustful 
that, one by one, they made decrees tying The 
Hague’s hands, in that the decree provided 
for the reviewing and vote by each country’s 
congress or parliament, before any act of the 
International Congress could become binding. 

“During the last year of The Hague 
Congress, according to the New York and 
London contingents of the Secret Society of 
International Diplomats, a hare-brained man 
by the name of Jules Dubufort, from France, 
had introduced a fantastic scheme to form an 
international republic. No doubt, this agree- 
ment of Bolinbroke’s, in that powerful Aide’s 
hands, was some sort of promotion of Dubu- 
fort’s idea, or a different programme, with a 
more dastardly far-reaching, diabolical de- 
nouement. 

“Therefore, while the Messenger spoke in 
• Madison Square Garden, day and night. 


276 


THE KING’S COMING 


pleading with Americans, Canadians, Mexi- 
cans, Brazilians, and others, to look to the 
future for the New Jerusalem, and Bolinbroke 
and Lord Stoddard were interviewing the 
President of the United States, members of 
the Cabinet, Judges of the Supreme Court, 
and prominent statesmen, these knights of 
patriotism were conferring together and with 
the Princess Aida to find the block to put in 
the spokes of the powerful wheel of The Book 
of Life. 

“The body of objectors, in New York, 
received long cabled messages from some of 
the British diplomats and from Rev, Theobald 
Brummell. But they could not suggest where 
to take hold. The British Premier was a 
strong supporter of the Messenger, The Book 
of Life, and Internationalism; hence it was 
useless to try anything in that quarter. 
France, Spain, Germany were unapproachable, 
as well, in their governmental departments. 
Therefore, it was a misnomer to state that 
opposition, strictly speaking, gathered strength 
in the governments. It found promulgation 
alone among wealthy schemers, who had their 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 277 


eyes on senatorships, or the presidency, and 
among diplomats who had from time imme- 
morial run international affairs and declared 
wars when it became necessary to cover up 
messes or enrich predatory interests. 

“Not only could no one suggest the vulner- 
able place of attack, but no one could see how 
it might be possible to obtain Bolinbroke’s 
paper. The leader in New York contended 
that the Messenger was the beginning, the 
head, and all there ever could be to the propa- 
ganda. If she were gotten rid of, or discred- 
ited, the whole scheme would collapse. ‘Go 
after the Messenger, morning, noon, and 
night !’ he cried, until the others believed him. 
They also convinced the Princess, and sent 
her on her way to watch, search out, and be 
ready, when they should announce a plan. 
‘Stay close to her, Princess,’ counselled the 
New Yorker. ‘Get up to Madison Square 
Garden. Attach yourself to her.’ 

“The Princess acted accordingly — managed, 
through the offices of Lord Ronald-Davies, to 
become a special attachee, at the Marcomb 
Mansion, on Riverside Drive, which was lent 


278 


THE KING'S COMING 


by that millionaire to the Messenger for her 
home during her stay in New York. 

“The sleeping lioness of jealousy, over the 
thought that the Messenger could have designs 
upon Lord Ronald-Davies, had near awaken- 
ings whenever that handsome peer called at 
the Marcomb Mansion. Perhaps a Messenger 
of Christ was incapable of falling in love, but 
the Princess had grave doubts. As a matter 
of fact, while she would not admit she believed 
the Messenger could love Lord Ronald-Davies, 
she did believe it, and kept the sleeping demon 
quiet and pretending by the hardest kind of 
human constraint. At all events, whatever the 
analysis of the Princess’s state of mind, she 
was a traitress, and somehow wanted the Mes- 
senger out of the way. 

“Less than ten days’ residence in the holy 
household developed a number of minor feel- 
ings in the Princess, and resulted in a dis- 
covery. Every morning early, the Messenger 
took a long walk, accompanied by one of her 
ladies ! 

“This information was transmitted to the 
Secret Society of Diplomats, and the members 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 279 


assured the Princess a plan would be quickly 
evolved. 

“She returned from conference, at the club, 
and tried to arrange to accept an invitation 
from the Messenger to walk with her of morn- 
ings, but was told such an invitation could not 
be extended, nor could the Princess volunteer 
for the service, since it was fixed for the Reti- 
nue of Ladies, one at a time, in rotation, to go 
with the Messenger. Of course, this refusal 
embittered the Princess. Although anything 
could easily have enhanced her dangerous 
tendencies, as she was there to spy out and 
spoil. 

“The climax to her feelings came two days 
later, when on entering the public reception 
room, she found Lord Ronald-Davies kneeling 
before the Messenger, and she, with her right 
hand on his head, pronouncing a blessing upon 
him in connection with some important mission 
he was undertaking for her and The Book of 
Life. That was altogether too much for the 
Princess to endure — to be deprived of Lord 
Ronald-Davies’s presence, for he was to go to 
Japan and China as an envoy! The Princess 


280 


THE KING'S COMING 


burned with rage. The idea of the Messen- 
ger’s presuming to lay hands on her peer and 
bless him ! 

“The next morning she saw his Lordship 
off at Grand Central Station, and came back 
immediately to Riverside Drive, determined 
more than ever, to smash the entire organiza- 
tion, if it were at all possible. She telephoned 
to the Society and had a long talk with the 
manager. Why did they not propose some- 
thing for her to do? She was impatient. Get 
the Messenger out of the way! It would be 
easy, if they could decide how it might be 
done. 

“ ‘We are about ready. Princess,’ he said. 
‘In the meantime, you can feel out those Ret- 
inue Ladies. We may require some co-opera- 
tion. Offer what you like — up to thirty, forty, 
or fifty thousand. You understand, — that is a 
ticklish job. You don’t want to make a blun- 
der.’ 

“ ‘Now you gentlemen are becoming per- 
fectly lovely — you are beginning to act,’ said 
the Princess joyfully. ‘I’m not going to make 
a mistake.’ 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 281 


“ ‘Oh ! we’re not slow/ came from the voice 
over the ’phone. ‘But, by George, this is no 
amateur’s undertaking. There’s the police to 
quiet, ways and means, etc. You just run 
along now and fix that Retinue girlie.’ 

“At that hour the Retinue of Ladies were 
arranged in a semicircle, in the summer house, 
having their ‘freedom’ as they expressed it — 
the time off, allotted to them for recreation. 
So the Princess put down the telephone, pinned 
on a simple straw hat, and ran out to look the 
Ladies over in their natural relaxation. 

“They were glad to see the Princess — for 
she was good company, always bright and 
witty and resourceful. 

“The Princess sat down in the midst of 
them, fingered some laces and embroidery they 
were making, but chiefly occupied herself in 
scrutinizing each face, and trying to detect 
weaknesses. They were an innocent, lively 
party. The spy threw open her most delight- 
ful gates of gaiety, and watched cattishly for 
her victim. 

“Helna Didioni and Madame Calleur, her 
mother, were set to one side as absolutely im- 


282 


THE KING'S COMING 


mune. That left two English girls, clear-eyed, 
clean of heart and thought, Anna Billington 
and Nellie Hampton; they were hopeless. The 
German fraulein, Marie Ostreicher, stout, a 
fine open face, blonde, honest, and true — she 
could not be tempted. Three Americans — 
Selma Patterson, of Troy, New York; a hand- 
some, squarely built brunette of thirty, smooth 
oval features, keen black eyes, straight, thin- 
lipped mouth; very religious and as loyal as 
they are ever made. Jenny O’Reilly, a dash- 
ing red-headed Irish-American, from Chicago. 
Not to be contaminated. Phyllis Sterling, a 
sweet Madonna gem from San Francisco. Her 
nice, tender face, soft brown liquid eyes, chest- 
nut hair — she was worth a million dollars in 
her own right ; had already given five hundred 
thousand dollars besides to The Book of Life 
fund. Impossible. Juanita Hallendes, the 
Spanish girl, from Madrid, No, no — pretty, 
dark and attractive, but too high in rank. Fam- 
ily pride would save Juanita any time. The 
two Italians — Enina Gallieni and Tucina Pa- 
lermogani. Both young, barely twenty. 
Enina was the Italian Prime Minister’s only 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 283 


child — a pure and perfect aristocrat. She 
would not do. Tucina was just as fixed and 
solid, though young, as her brilliant sister 
Florentine, and could not be considered for 
anything so low and mean. The unlucky lot 
must then fall to poor little Frances Snell, 
from Nowhere. She claimed to be Australian 
— an American mother, out of a small travel- 
ing show, and a New South Wales man for 
father. Lord Stoddard discovered that 
Frances had been a resident of Vienna. Her 
name might have been spelled S-c-h-n-e-1-1. 
He shut his ears; did not want to know any- 
thing. Frances had been healed in Paris, and 
begged to be admitted. The Messenger took 
her in — from Nowhere. 

“Frances would be the one of the twelve to 
betray her benefactress. 

“The Princess read it in her eyes. The 
latent fire of adventure smoldered low in those 
dark hazel eyes. The cut of her peaked, weak 
chin, showed the Princess that Frances’s char- 
acter had no steel bars about its back door. 
The girl from Nowhere was a nice looking 
body, and her extra frills of hair — even two 


284 


THE KING’S COMING 


false locks — showed that she wished to im- 
prove her looks. A few additional touches of 
dress betrayed the latent love for finery with- 
in, that gnawed and burned fiercely in the holy 
restricted life Frances had chosen to lead. But 
she kicked up a lively spell with the Retinue! 
She laughed and tittered. She said funny 
things and teased everybody. The others 
liked her, however, and by common consent, 
tried to keep her in line and help her to be a 
good girl. 

“Well did the cunning Princess Aida know 
that the little starved wild beast, in poor 
France’s breast, craved a fling in the world 
of high life, — and fine jewels and dresses; 
Frances’s breast, craved a fling in the world 
height, an artist’s model figure, — she could be 
tempted out into the world to seek a millionaire 
husband I 

“When it came down to corrupting the girl 
from Nowhere, however, the Princess did not 
find it so easy as she had thought. Poor 
Frances had more fear than faith, which is 
often as strong a factor for keeping people in 
the path of rectitude. In fact, if nine-tenths 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 285- 


of the Christian membership were carefully 
looked into, there would be found a mixture 
of faith and fear quite astonishing in closeness 
and familiarity of bedfellowship, Frances 
quaked at the enormity of the crime. Why, 
the Messenger nearly had the world. She, 
Frances, had been healed by the Messenger; 
she might be stricken dead by her as well. 

“Three days of persistent work won Frances 
in the end. She could not resist the glowing 
pictures of happiness to be gained with money. 
She put her price at thirty thousand dollars. 

“Down at the Club, the Princess said : 

“ TVe got it arranged. The Retinue girl, 
Frances, will play into our hands. Her hire is 
thirty pieces of silver, or gold— but thousands 
for pieces! She is the modern Judas, you 
know.’ 

“The twenty-five patriotic protectors of Na- 
tional entity and International balance were all 
present. The one designated as leader counted 
out the sum in new notes and pushed it over 
to the Princess. Not one word was spoken. 

“The money was deftly folded and stuffed 
into her handbag. She readjusted her hat to 


286 


THE KING’S COMING 


s 


go. A big man over by the window, the one 
who had done most of the talking in unfolding 
the plan, and who had many suggestions about 
him of a high police official, said : 

“ ‘Remember the place now — the drive 
where it dips in the hollow a little away from 
the Hudson. A large covered maroon auto- 
mobile will be standing there — the chauffeur 
tinkering with his engine.’ 

“ ‘It’s all clear enough, thank you,’ she as- 
sured, and left the room. 

“An hour later the Princess was in her 
apartment, in the Marcomb Mansion, closeted 
with the betrayer of the Messenger. 

“ ‘You must act to-morrow, Frances. The 
Alhambria has been waiting at San Francisco 
two weeks already. Of course, that does not 
matter. It may take the Messenger two 
months if she works as she does here. The 
thing is she’s talking of going on to Chicago 
at once. Do it to-morrow morning.’ 

“ ‘Please take back the money. I’m afraid! 
The Messenger will kill me! Take back the 
money and let me go.’ 

“‘Nonsense! You have pledged yourself 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 287 


now. Keep the money. Why, all I have to do 
is to ring the bell, have Lord Stoddard called, 
and out you would go without any money.’ 
The Princess gloated over her victim. 

“Frances, the gay heart from Nowhere, 
locked her arms around the Princess’s feet 
and wept convulsively, shedding bitter tears. 
Her soul crouched and shuddered within her. 

“‘Hush!’ demanded her spoiler. ‘You’re 
not a baby. I’ll call Lord Stoddard at once.’ 
She moved as if to press the electric button. 
‘Besides, Frances, you’ve already committed 
the act. You have only now to get out of suspi- 
cion. I will help you there.’ 

“‘Will you?’ 

“ ‘Certainly. That is part of the bargain. 
When the excitement blows over you will find 
that this monster bubble will burst — all go to 
pieces. The world will laugh, and you will 
have thirty thousand dollars with which to 
begin life. Don’t be foolish. Why, my dear, 
you are rendering your fellow men a service.’ 

“The naturally blithesome spirit allowed it- 
self to be coaxed and flattered, and finally 
threw all scruples to the winds. 


288 


THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘See to it that those pesky doves are fast- 
ened in their cote when you go out in the morn- 
ing/ the Princess cautioned the last thing, late 
that night. 

“By first dawn, the Princess moved about 
quietly in her room, watching nervously for 
the Palisades across the Hudson, to become 
splashed with the rising sun. The glow bright- 
ened in one high spot, and looking down the 
wide side promenade, she saw Frances and 
the Messenger. Her eyes followed them until 
they disappeared over the knoll that dipped 
in the hollow, farthest from the river. 

“In the flat pan of the dip, Frances saw the 
maroon automobile. The chauffeur tapped the 
engine with a wrench. When within a fur- 
long of the car, Frances fell heavily and 
feigned a sprained ankle. She cried out, hold- 
ing her foot with both hands ! The chauffeur 
ran to them. 

“ ‘What is it. Miss? Are you badly hurt?’ 

“ ‘My ankle turned. Oh ! it is so painful!’ 

“ ‘Can you get up?’ 

“ ‘I can’t stand.’ 

“The Messenger was greatly distressed. 


ONE OF THE TWELVE 289 


“ ‘Where do you live?’ 

“Frances answered: 

“ ‘Back there — at Mr. Marcomb’s house.’ 

“ ‘Then come into the automobile. I’ll take 
both of you home.’ 

“ ‘You are kind, sir, but possibly after a 
little, I can walk.’ 

“ ‘It’s no trouble. Miss. Lean on me. I’ll 
help you ; I’ll help you into the car. Come.’ 

“After a great amount of cringing and some 
cries of pretended pain, she allowed the chauf- 
feur to assist her. 

“ ‘Lady, you had better get in first,’ said he, 
addressing the Messenger, and opening the 
door of the limousine. 

“The Messenger hesitated, but got in, and 
behind her Frances climbed in with perfect 
ease. 

“They were surprised to find facing them 
two smart appearing men, who sat on the fold- 
ing seats. They quickly presented pistols. 

“‘You are prisoners. One sound from 
either of you means death!’ The man to the 
right made this startling speech. 

“The Messenger looked at Frances I 


290 THE KING’S COMING 


“The girl had been told to struggle and get 
away. She did not expect the two men inside, 
and almost forgot her part. But when the 
Messenger looked at her, as much as to say; 
‘And thou, Frances!’ — it was unbearable. She 
made a frantic leap for the door, and was al- 
lowed to escape.” 


CHAPTER XX 


“the plague” 

H RANGES ran to the Messenger’s tem- 
porary palace, as fast as she could, 
having made up her mind to give the 
alarm, tell how men in an automobile had cap- 
tured the Messenger, and of her own escape! 

“The Princess stood in the door, waiting for 
her. 

“Lord Stoddard, in his front bedroom, up- 
stairs, was an early riser, and by chance, saw 
Frances running homeward along the Drive. 
He descended quickly, and was at the Prin- 
cess’s side when the breathless Frances ar- 
rived. 

“ ‘The Messenger !’ she exclaimed, falling 
on her face. ‘She’s gone !’ 

“Lord Stoddard picked her up, asking, 
‘Where?’ ‘How did she go?’ and a lot of 
questions, but the girl from Nowhere had 
fainted. 

“Still holding the limp body, he glanced help- 
lessly at the Princess. Instantly she threw up 


292 


THE KINGS COMING 


her hands and fell upon the floor also in a dead 
faint. 

“There was great commotion in the house. 
Attendants came running, and dozens of will- 
ing hands carried the two women to their beds. 
Screams and cries came from basement to dor- 
mer-window rooms — ‘The Messenger gone!’ 
The alarm spread to every part of the city! 
Bolinbroke, in Washington, was telegraphed 
for — Eppstein, in Chicago, summoned! Every 
police station was called. Doctors came. Mes- 
senger boys darted through the streets. An 
immense crowd began collecting in the grounds 
of the mansion. 

“Consternation seized all members of the 
Messenger’s household! The best medical 
skill, in the city, could not revive either of the 
women. Hence, from Frances, no word could 
be elicited as to how the disappearance had oc- 
curred. Both patients — one evidently, from 
the upset of sudden news, — lay in absolute un- 
consciousness, scarcely breathing, and all ex- 
periments, as well as the usual remedies, had 
no effects upon them whatsoever. They were 
expected to die at any moment ! 


THE PLAGUE 293 


“Many of the Retinue and the attendants 
were prostrated with grief. Lord Stoddard 
aged ten years in two hours. 

“Policemen and detectives roamed up and 
down the Drive in squads. The river was 
dragged. Searching parties went in every di- 
rection. 

“Newspapers ran extras every thirty min- 
utes. Telegraph and cable lines were choked 
with accounts of the disappearance. Wireless 
stations flashed the story, and by noon all the 
world had been notified. 

“There was not the slightest clew. People 
said it was impossible for such a thing to hap- 
pen. It could not be that one so famous, — so 
great ! — could be snatched out of a city of eight 
millions, and visitors numbering two other mil- 
lions, without being seen by anyone! Who 
would dare do such a thing? There must be 
some mistake! 

“But the day wore on, and the mystery re- 
mained unsolved. The women were yet un- 
conscious, their breathings and heartbeats 
scarcely perceptible. No word, no sign, no syl- 
lable, from either, to guide to a conclusion. 


294 THE KING'S COMING 


Stoddard saw the Messenger and Frances 
walking out together. He witnessed Frances’s 
hasty return and heard all that was known. 

“Hysterical moanings from Helna, and oc- 
casional expressions of ‘He has taken my Mes- 
senger!’ ‘Come to me from the Angels!’ led 
to all manner of speculation. Helna was the 
first to be healed, after Annette the Bird 
Wooer, and she loved her Messenger more de- 
votedly than any of the Retinue. Could she 
be speaking out of spiritual knowledge? 

“This gave rise to many strange stories. 
One dear old soul, in Hoboken, declared she 
saw a troop of Angels, bearing a golden harp, 
descend from heaven and swoop up the Mes- 
senger. 

“One of the papers published these stories in 
the evening, and added : 

“ ‘Since the coming of the Messenger has 
been mysterious, her progress more than mar- 
velous, the world is quite ready to believe that 
she was taken after the manner of the prophet 
Elijah!’ 

“A pall settled upon the whole earth. 


THE PLAGUE 295 


People, in every language, cried unto God in 
wailings and repentance! 

“But that night, about ten o’clock, the Mes- 
senger, who sat on the deck of a luxuriously 
appointed yacht that steamed forward in the 
Atlantic, was told to stand and stretch out her 
hands towards the West, ‘That God might 
work His wonders,’ concluded her Voices. Im- 
mediately, that morning after her capture, her 
Voices had spoken saying: ‘Resist not Wait 
and be patient. God knows the best way.’ 
And she arose in the midst of her new com- 
panions, — four ladies and six men, — and 
stretched out her hands. 

“Now, at the Club, in New York, in that 
far-remote suite, the twenty-five stanch citi- 
zens, who essayed to save the political world, 
in its pristine purity, were having a banquet! 
They really had started something. The din- 
ner and the wines were tucked away, and they 
were gathered about the table with cigars, to 
tell jokes of the day, and to predict happenings 
in the near future. 

“‘Watch Bolinbroke blow up!’ one ample- 
waisted money king was saying. 


296 


THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘Another shot at the moon!’ ejaculated a 
lawyer, who had private aspirations ambassa- 
dorwards. 

“ ‘Say fellers ! the only gink who comes off 
whole is the Jew !’ The slim, bony official haw- 
hawed until he ended in a fit of coughing. 

“ ‘That’s right,’ he continued, when every- 
body had laughed. ‘Israel is restored, come 
what will, and the Jew Eppstein has his king- 
dom.’ 

“Another more calculating member said: 

“ ‘But Bolinbroke has the money.’ 

“ ‘Obtained by fraud,’ someone was adding, 
when suddenly, one after another fell to the 
carpet, complaining of violent cramps in the 
stomach. In five minutes every man and all 
the attendants were scrambling about, groan- 
ing with stomachache! 

“They knew they had been poisoned ! Doc- 
tors were hurried in to dose them. They 
were taken home, in cabs and carriages, in 
doubled-up, contorted states. What on earth 
could it have been ? 

“Also at the same time, every policeman and 
police officer, in New York City, whether on 


THE PLAGUE 297 


duty or not, was stricken down with stomach- 
ache! Those on their beats — or supposed to 
be there — had to be helped home ! 

“When morning came, there was a hue and 
cry from every part of the city. Some mysteri- 
ous plague had fallen upon the police force. 

“Cables from England and France an- 
nounced a peculiar affection of diplomats, — 
stomachache and a lapse into semi-un- 
consciousness. A prominent West End min- 
ister, in London, Rev. Theobald Brummell, 
had suffered similarly, and was not expected to 
live. 

“The twenty-five New York members of the 
Secret Society of International diplomats, 
taken home from the Club, in throes of stom- 
ach convulsions, were all unconscious, and ap- 
parently near death’s door. 

“During the following day it was found that 
the police force had a different form of the 
plague. At the end of six hours, a respite of 
six hours came, and none of them went into 
unconsciousness. In other Words, the attacks 
of stomachache were intermittent, although 
horribly painful. 


298 THE KING’S COMING 


“Everybody, ever)rwhere laughed! 

“Journals came out with exceedingly amus- 
ing cartoons. New York’s police force down 
with stomachache! It had been accused, for 
years, of being corrupt to the core — numerous 
cases stood out as well-known examples of neg- 
lect of duty and graft practices. It had not 
been so many years since Becker’s execution 
for the Rosenthal shooting and the shameful 
conniving in the Ruth Kruger case. At the 
time of the Kruger case, the Governor of New 
York State ordered a thorough investigation 
of New York City policemen. Disclosures then 
brought to light were disgraceful to American 
liberty and independence. 

“Also the newspapers wrote boldly, and as- 
serted that the stricken millionaires and police- 
men had something to do with the disappear- 
ance of the Messenger. They were being pun- 
ished either for participation or neglect of 
duty. Undoubtedly the rich men — many miss- 
ing from Wall Street — and the head police 
officials, laid low in the unconscious state, were 
the actual participants. Policemen with stom- 
achache only, were generally guilty of neglect. 


THE PLAGUE 299 


In the police force, there was something ac- 
cursed in Israel, and innocent and guilty alike 
must go on suffering with stomachache until 
whatever it might be could be found and re- 
moved and corrected. 

“One New York paper said editorially; ‘It 
is the Messenger of Christ — the wrong that 
the police force has permitted. Until this 
crime is cleared up, fully acknowledged, and 
repented of, in our opinion, the New York 
police force may expect to continue with the 
inconveniences of intermittent stomachache, 
and Wall Street be deprived of ten of its most 
brilliant manipulators ! It’s up to them !’ 

“The Hague International Congress was 
greatly depleted on account of the absence of 
unconscious diplomats! It became apparent, 
however, that international negotiations and 
hearings progressed much more easily and 
satisfactorily — men of honest intentions were 
in control. 

“A renowned English wit, wrote in a Lon- 
don paper : 

“ ‘Oh, Lord, why didst thou not think of 
Thy most powerful weapons long ago — 
stomachache and unconsciousness!’ 


300 THE KING’S COMING 


“There was no letup of the plague anywhere. 
New York’s police force continued incapaci- 
tated, and the militia of the State took charge. 

“Men began to think. The risibility wore 
off, and it became a serious matter. America 
was shamed! The country of enlightenment, 
education, and Christianity, had done away 
with Christ’s own Messenger — how much bet- 
ter were they than ancient Jews and Romans ? 
No one could doubt the cause of the plague. 
Citizens, in every state, murmured against 
New York. The perfidy of its rich and the 
neglect of its sworn officers of the law would 
bring a curse upon the entire country. 

“The United States Government ordered an 
inquiry to be made. 

“ ‘The difficulty,’ said the Mayor of New 
York, ‘is that everyone who could tell some- 
thing about it, and the most guilty in all lands, 
are unconscious and unable to utter a word or 
make a sign. The thing is exceedingly strange 
and perplexing!’ 

“A Chicago editor replied hotly : 

“ ‘Find the Messenger. Get out and search. 


THE PLAGUE 301 


Solve the puzzle, or New York will become a 
reproach upon earth!’ 

“New York’s citizens protested. They pro- 
claimed absolute acceptance of the Messenger. 
They called attention to the fact that New 
York’s reception of the Messenger and the 
Alhambria was unique for distinctiveness and 
splendor. 

“But Chicago cried yet the more : ‘Find the 
Messenger I’ 

“The Police, in six hour periods, assisted the 
militia in searching every nook and corner. 
Vice was hounded day and night. They were 
genuinely sorry, and to make steps towards 
amends, every afflicted ‘cop’ signed The Book 
of Life! 

“The net result amounted to good. Noth- 
ing could have brought the truth more poig- 
nantly home. Men were afraid to doubt. 

“The three Aides were stunned! For days 
and days, they did not know what to do. Most 
of the time they sat with closed doors, counsel- 
ing among themselves. 

“Finally Lord Stoddard, who had gone 
nightly to Madison Square Garden to meet 


302 THE KING’S COMING 


with tens of thousands and warn them, in the 
spirit of the Messenger, screwed his monocle 
in position, scanned the anxious faces of his 
brother Aides, and said : 

“ ‘I have it ! I am convinced. The Mes- 
senger still lives. This is a miracle she is per- 
forming on a gigantic opposition that was col- 
lecting against us. I tell you she lives !’ 

“ ‘What makes you think so?’ asked Bolin- 
broke. 

“ ‘The plague continues. If this were the 
end, things would culminate in something. I 
am sure she will be found, and return to stamp 
out this terrible punishment,’ 

“Bolinbroke and Eppstein at last reached the 
same conclusion. Then they rallied and stirred 
the fires with energy and renewed zeal. Lord 
Stoddard virtually took the place of the Mes- 
senger, and made Madison Square Garden 
ring with his eloquence. He developed into a 
most powerful and convincing speaker. Min- 
isters, priests, and churchmen from every 
part of the United States came in continuous 
streams to hear him. 

“Bolinbroke and Eppstein completed the 


THE PLAGUE 303 


work they had come to do, and lingered, wait- 
ing for news from the Messenger. 

“On the evening of the thirty-fifth day of the 
continuance of the plague, when fear and 
wonder were at the panicky point, Stoddard 
came in, weary and sore, from his labors. He 
went silently and in awe to the Messenger’s 
room. Day after day, week after week, he 
had done this, hoping for a word, a sign — 
something to make an end of the awful strain. 
Her two doves in the cote had always been sit- 
ting in a stupor. They received the most care- 
ful attention, but refused response, and would 
not fly into the open, when urged. But that 
evening, he found them awake and struggling 
to escape through the silver bars. 

“ ‘See the doves ! They are ready to fly to 
the Messenger! Our deliverance is near at 
hand. Quick, we shall let them go.’ 

“Bolinbroke suggested that they write notes 
and send them to the Messenger. 

“ ‘Describe the plague in New York — every- 
where!’ added Eppstein. 

“This they did, and begged the Messenger 


304 THE KING’S COMING 


to come, if possible, and if not, to send news 
of herself, so that she might be rescued. 

“Small packages were, therefore, fastened 
to the doves’ feet, and the door of the cote 
thrown open. 

“They uttered guttural cries of rejoicing, 
and flew in a straight line far over the roofs 
of the sweltering city.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


“forty days and forty nights” 



:ARIE the messenger was taken 

by the automobile to a wharf and 
aboard a yacht. This prison boat car- 
ried her into the St. Lawrence River, where up, 
in the wilds, her captors put her in an impro- 
vised Bastille, in charge of ignorant guards, 
who were threatened with the worst forms of 
punishment if they allowed the young woman 
to escape or have communication with any per- 
son other than themselves. 

“This much arranged, the yacht and its crew 
and passengers departed for New York. 

“The Messenger, on the third night after 
her incarceration, in the low, heavy stone 
building, dreamed that she saw the yacht and 
all aboard go down in the angry waves of the 
Atlantic. 


“And there in the Bastille, she stayed on, 
tended by several kind old women. She had 
been instructed to wait and be patient. Was it 
that her followers might be tried ? Would they 


306 


THE KING’S COMING 


forget her and her message? What was God’s 
purpose in allowing her to be whisked away 
and deposited in a prison in the interior, miles 
away — north of the St. Lawrence? She re- 
membered that He had caused her to lift her 
hands towards the West, in order to start his 
wonders. What had she accomplished? It 
must have been some miracle. Would she soon 
be told? 

“These were some of the quiet thoughts that 
came to the Messenger as she whiled away time 
in the peaceful prison, in the dark pine forests. 
Sounds and disturbances out there were rare. 
She walked about freely in the wide second 
floor room, in the Bastille, drank in the aro- 
matic emanations of the giant trees, listened 
to the whirr of the partridge and the quivering 
call of the rabbit, and bathed herself in the 
straggling sunshine that smiled in through the 
grated windows. 

“Rest and peace caused her beauty to 
freshen. Absence from the multitudes allowed 
her cup to be renewed by the balm of righteous- 
ness. 

“Old Mimi, the faithful attendant who pre- 


FORTY DAYS—FORTY NIGHTS 307 


pared the bed for her at night, and brought her 
frugal dainties during the day, watched the 
fair prisoner with growing wonder. 

“‘What crime have you done?’ she asked, 
unable to hold her curiosity longer. 

“ ‘Men must have thought me a dangerous 
woman — of no crime am I guilty.’ 

“ ‘You are not a sorceress?’ 

“ ‘No, Mimi. I came from France, from a 
chateau in the mountains, not far from Al- 
sace.’ 

“ ‘Ah ! I, too, came hence from the dear 
mountains, not far from Alsace. My brother 
and I went away after the war of 1870. The 
war took all — ^you have heard. Here we two 
labored, but with no result. He lives; I live. 
We are poor. He and I and these woodmen 
keep the prison and the church yonder — 
strange, a prison and church side by side. 
Now he is old and too lame to walk.’ 

“ ‘Is that he who sits across the way mend- 
ing and making shoes and harness all day?’ 

“ ‘Yes, yes; the same is Louis.’ 

“ ‘I see him early and late.’ 

‘ ‘Yes, he is sad because he cannot walk.’ 


308 


THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘I shall heal him some day.’ 

“Shrivelled Mimi looked at the Messenger 
incredulously for a few seconds, then light 
leaped into her sunken eyes. 

“ ‘You are the Virgin Mary!’ she exclaimed, 
and fell down, crossing herself. ‘Oh! you’ve 
answered his prayers and mine! See! he 
crawls out the church now.’ 

“ ‘No, no, Mimi ; I’m not the Mother of Our 
Lord. But he has sent me to do a work for 
him. Be patient until my deliverance is at 
hand. See you tell no one, and I’ll not forget 
your brother.’ 

“Nevertheless, Mimi, like the wayfarers 
who were cautioned by Jesus to ‘tell no man,’ 
spread the report that certainly a holy vision 
was locked in the Bastille, as aught she knew 
not but that it was a blessing upon the 
wilderness, for she believed the fair one to be 
a counterpart of the Virgin herself. The Lord 
be merciful to them. 

“Anon the queer dozen of French Canadians 
gathered about the Bastille and prayed for re- 
demption. They carried the news to lumber 
camps, and fervent Catholic pilgrims came 


FORTY DAYS— FORTY NIGHTS 309 


from afar to see the wonderful young woman 
who promised some day to heal old Louis 
Lefevre. 

“The Messenger, however, held her secret 
and awaited God’s pleasure. She stood at the 
Bastille’s window and prayed aloud for the 
simple woodmen, which pleased them and sent 
them away happy. 

“Week after week wore on, and days added 
up approaching the latter thirties. The Mes- 
senger could not but think of Moses’s forty 
days and forty nights in Mount Sinai. Surely 
God would not say unto her, as He had to 
Moses : 

“ 'Go, get thee down; for thy people, which 
thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, 
have corrupted themselves.’ 

“No; that could not be — she had brought 
her people out of the darkness of Egypt to go 
on forever. Her people would not forsake her 
and leave off believing in His Second Coming. 
‘My Aides will hold them steadfast, by the 
power from heaven,’ she said, being elevated 
in her holy thoughts. When she finished say- 
ing this, her Voices, for the first time since the 


310 THE KING’S COMING 


command to her on the yacht, spoke to her 
again : ‘Be of good cheer. The Chief Escort 
stands before the people for you. Wait yet a 
little.’ 

“The Messenger gave joyful thanks. Her 
solid little Escort represented her ! She could 
see his monocle being mechanically adjusted 
again and again. In her brimming gleeful- 
ness, she could not help saying aloud : ‘If you 
awsk me, he’ll stick as long as earth holds to- 
gether!’ Oh, how she wished to fly away to 
New York and rejoin her company! 

“Would the thirty-eighth day ever come? If 
that would come, it might pass quickly, for 
there was to be a holy festival in the village, 
and from sunrise to nightfall she could sit on 
her window seat and watch the people come 
and go. Mimi told her two hundred of the 
strange wood folk were coming to pray in the 
church and to make merry in that lonely place. 

“At the going down of the sun, on the day 
before the village festival, Marie the Mes- 
senger fell asleep by the window. She had 
tired of following the shadows of trees and 
Louis’s hut. Mimi unlocked the door and en- 


FORTY DAYS—FORTY NIGHTS 311 


tered. Noticing that the dear one slept, the 
good backwoods woman treated herself to the 
feast of heart to sit on the floor and watch her 
charge’s peaceful breathing. 

“Like the soothing swish of angels descend- 
ing, there came the flap of tiny white wings, 
and the Messenger’s doves alighted on the 
stone sill ! Their little throats puffed, and they 
strutted for a turn or two, uttering their low, 
exultant cooings. Then, to old Mimi’s aston- 
ishment, they walked straight through the 
rusted bars on to the sleeping beauty’s lap. 

“ ‘Oh, John ! Oh, Peter !’ she cried in laugh- 
ing tears, as she awoke. ‘I dreamed that you 
were coming ! And now, you are here ! Come 
my dear, dear pets — come to Marie !’ 

“Their croaking cooings became hilarious. 
Both Peter and John scrambled up under the 
Messenger’s chin, and she rocked to and fro 
and talked to them, kissing their sleek, neat 
heads. 

“Mimi choked with emotion! Unseen, she 
slipped away and out behind the Bastille to 
cry and pour out her feelings like a child. 

“It was told in the village that night. Super- 


312 THE KING’S COMING 


stitious men and women listened and won- 
dered. One by one they went to the church 
and lit each a candle to burn for them before 
the Virgin Mary! 

“On the morrow, the Messenger, after hav- 
ing read the notes from her Aides, and being 
instructed by her Voices what to do, arose in 
the fullness of her spiritual strength, ready to 
act, eager to take up her work. Radiant 
serenity glorified her brow, and she felt the 
thrill of the music from the veiled choir on 
High! 

“Mimi came as one afraid to face a proph- 
etess. 

“‘Fear not, Mimi; I go to-day. Tell the 
people to assemble in yonder grove at ten 
o’clock, with Louis in their midst. Bid them 
sit on the grass. And come to me, Mimi, five 
minutes before the hour.’ 

“They did as she bade them. 

“Mimi came to the Messenger, and did not 
hesitate to swing wide the door, at the Messen- 
ger’s request. 

“The simple folk feared when they saw 
Christ’s Messenger among them! But she 


FORTY DA YS— FORTY NIGHTS 313 


reassured them. Moving softly through a 
passage that opened as she walked, she talked 
to them and stilled their beating hearts as a 
mother soothes her children in a storm. 

“Mounting to a knoll of moss, beneath a 
towering pine, she addressed those rugged 
men and women of the lumber camps. She 
unfolded the Scriptures, and made them be- 
lieve His Second Coming. They came nearer 
to sit at her feet. She told them of her won- 
derful work in distant lands, — of God’s pun- 
ishment to New York intriguers, and ex- 
plained her presence in the quaint Bastille. 
She poured into their eager, trusting hearts the 
oil and sweet incense of divine faith. Never 
had grace been given her more abundantly, in 
Berlin, Paris, Rome, London, or New York, as 
when she related the Great Message of Jesus 
to those big hearts gathered around her in the 
aged woods. 

“ ‘Now, Louis,’ said she, ‘as you have be- 
lieved in God, and lived faithful to His word, 
I shall ask Him to bless you in like measure, 
and to heal you, that you may walk.’ 

“In the stillness of the forest air, she spoke 


314 THE KINGS COMING 


to God as though His throne were near in the 
green boughs, and old Louis forthwith arose 
and walked before the marveling bush folk! 

“The Messenger had dwelt in palaces and 
been saluted by kings, but God had reserved 
for her that special soul feast in the wilder- 
ness! 

“That afternoon, one and all, went with her 
to the railway station. They gave her money 
and food, and the women insisted that she take 
several of their coarse shawls, although it was 
yet summer. 

“At the close of the fortieth day, a Satur- 
day, in September, a woman, hooded and 
wrapped in cloak and shawl, stepped into a 
taxi at Grand Central Station, carrying an 
old-fashioned bird cage, and gave the address : 
‘The Marcomb Mansion, Riverside Drive.’ 

“Ten minutes before the arrival of the taxi, 
the doves, freed from the vehicle’s door, came 
into the grounds on the Drive and walked 
vaingloriously around Lord Stoddard. 

“Immediately there was uproar in the house. 
The gloom left by the Messenger’s disappear- 
ance had lingered. Frances, the poor girl 


FORTY DA YS— FORTY NIGHTS 315 


from Nowhere, and the rich Princess, still lay 
unconscious up in their rooms, scarcely breath- 
ing, and wasted to skin and bones. But now, 
with a nod of the heads of Peter and John, 
the Messenger might appear any minute. Lord 
Stoddard, in that ten minutes, made three trips 
to the Messenger’s room! 

“A thoughtless chauifeur tooted his horn 
loudly as he drove his taxi swiftly in front of 
the door. The people — her religious family — 
to one side on the lawn, saw the hooded woman 
alight and pay for the hire of the automobile. 
The three Aides started forward, but halted 
amazed. 

“The woman turned on the stoop of the 
mansion and let fall the bush woman’s shawl. 
Her hands reached out in blessings upon her 
Aides and Retinue. 

“The Messenger!” 


CHAPTER XXII 


© 


CONVICTION AND STRENGTH 

URSTS of applause and shouts of glad- 
ness aroused all that part of New York 
City. The Messenger is here! The 
Messenger ! God’s holy one has come !’ cheered 
and excited crowds of people. It was passed on 
by word of mouth more quickly than the fire- 
brands of the Scottish Highlanders flashed 
news of war from crest to crag. Telephones 
rang; automobiles sped through the streets; 
newsboys shoved extras into bystanders’ 
hands. ‘Christ’s Messenger at the Marcomb 
Mansion I’ was flung out over cables and wire- 
less stations. Signers of The Book of Life, 
in every clime, prayed in thanksgiving. 

“ ‘How did it happen ?’ was the one intensive 
question. 

“The Messenger gently disengaged herself 
from loving embraces of her Retinue, and 
ascended to the bedroom of the little girl from 
Nowhere! 

“A fading ray of the evening sun warmed 


CONVICTION AND STRENGTH 317 


Frances’s pallid cheek. Dark rings were deep 
under her hollow eyes; her chest rose and fell 
in respiration ever so slowly, as if the bellows 
of life might quit their work any second. The 
modern Judas ! — ^motherless and helpless. 
What were thirty thousand dollars to her 
then? Of what worth the fantasy of dress? 
the tinsel glitter of jewels? Ah! but she was 
the dupe of her sister temptress, the Princess, 
as was Judas Iscariot the sycophant slave of 
his sister ! 

“The Aides and ladies stopped in the door- 
way and the corner. The Messenger advanced 
to the bedside weeping. 

“ ‘Homeless and ill !’ said the Messenger, 
‘but not friendless!’ 

“Marie the Servant of the Most High God, 
smoothed her hand over the low, bloodless 
brow — and moved her lips in supplication to 
Him who had sent her on an errand of mercy 
to the children of men ! 

**The maid from Nowhere yawned and 
awoke! She passed her blue-veined, skeleton 
fingers across her eyes, and sat up in bed ! 

“ ‘Oh, my Messenger !’ she cried. ‘Do 


318 


THE KING'S COMING 


please forgive me ! They persuaded me to be- 
tray you !’ her tears and moans moved every- 
one to sympathy. ‘Please, sweet Messenger, 
forgive! Have they taken my name off The 
Book of Life? In God’s name, let me write 
it again!’ 

“The Messenger put her arms about the 
emaciated form, and forgave her, for Christ’s 
handmaid harbored no ill feeling. She made 
Frances happy again; convinced her that God 
had pardoned her and made her whole in body, 
heart, and mind. Likewise did the Aides and 
the Retinue! — Bolinbroke informed her that 
no one had erased her name from The Book of 
Life. 

“Then Frances said all the things that she 
had suffered in her helpless, comatose state. 
She told every detail of how the sordid be- 
trayal had happened, and even gave many of 
the names of prominent men concerned in the 
plot. She was informed of how affliction and 
awful punishment had mowed down thou- 
sands. 

“Frances said she was tired. And then all 
at once she said: 


CONVICTION AND STRENGTH 319 


“ ‘Dear Messenger, let me kiss your hand, — 
before I go. I’m going now!’ 

“The Messenger stooped and kissed the 
fragile child, 

“ ‘It is so fixed, Frances. You may go home 
now to be with Him. Sing praises there until 
the end of time and on and on through eter- 
nity.’ 

“Frances smiled on them, and lay down and 
slept ! She had been forgiven and taken home ! 

“The Messenger folded the cold hands, and, 
in solemn thought, walked toward the door. 
And silently, except for a pitying cry from a 
sister lady, they left the room and closed the 
doors ! 

“By common consent and without a spoken 
word, they followed the Messenger across the 
large hall to the Princess Aida’s room. 

“There they found that beauty had fled. A 
yellow ghost, hugging tightly a bundle of bones, 
met their eyes. The men went to the window 
and looked out. The ladies shuddered. 

“But the Messenger of Mercy did not other- 
wise than she did with the little girl from No- 


320 THE KING’S COMING 


where. She wept as she advanced, and pray- 
ing, smoothed the icy, furrowed brow. 

“The Princess awoke. Her eyes darted out 
frightened flashes from cavernous hollows in 
her skull, and she uttered a piercing scream ! 
‘Go away ! Go !’ she cried. ‘Oh ! Messenger, 
don’t cast me into torment! Have I not suf- 
fered enough? And those with me? Forty 
days of this! Oh, those policemen! those 
men! — my uncle who ruined me! Is it not 
enough?’ 

“ ‘Hush, Princess ; be still. I have forgiven 
you! I’ve come, in God’s name to forgive and 
heal you.’ 

“Princess Aida swung her feet off the side 
of the bed and stared at the Messenger. 

“ ‘Can you do that ?’ she asked, not believing 
it possible. By chance she beheld her fright- 
ened visage in the mirror. 

“ ‘Oh ! oh ! I won’t have it !’ and giving up 
one awful, hairlifting scream after another, 
she sprang through the doorway and ran like 
a mad phantom down through the house and 
out to the Hudson and jumped over the em- 
bankment into the river ! 


CONVICTION AND STRENGTH 321 


“The rapidly collecting crowd without, scat- 
tered and many were terrified. 

“Men plunged into the water and rescued the 
demented Princess, and brought her dripping, 
gnashing her teeth, and frothing at the mouth, 
to the Messenger. Strong men turned away 
from the awful sight. 

“But the Messenger quieted the demon with- 
in and soothed her until she wept bitter, hot 
tears. When these had quite drained the cup 
of gall, when hundreds looked on, dumb- 
founded, the Messenger said : 

“ ‘Go now to your room and clothe yourself. 
Your mind is restored. Your youth will re- 
turn. I have need of you — you have work to 
do! Go!’ 

“The Princess kissed the Messenger’s feet, 
and went away, contrite in heart, and a new 
woman. 

“ ‘A mob is gathering to kill the unconscious 
bankers !’ shouted a mounted soldier, who came 
galloping into their midst. 

“ ‘Quick !’ ordered the Messenger. ‘To the 
hospitals! Say to the mob, I forbid them.’ 

“The soldier rode off, running his horse. 


322 THE KING'S COMING 


There was turmoil about the mansion. Auto- 
mobiles buzzed in the garages, and soon the 
Messenger and the Aides were racing down 
the Drive. 

“The great haste was really not necessary. 
When the soldier came declaring that the Mes- 
senger forbade violence, that she would for- 
give and heal, the mob slunk away. The Mes- 
senger’s word, in New York, was executed 
law. 

“Thirty minutes later, when they told the 
Messenger that the mob feared to disobey, lest 
stomach trouble might set in again, she looked 
away and barely concealed a smile. 

“She healed every dejected, repentant 
banker, lawyer, and diplomat within the next 
two hours, and received the most humble, sol- 
emn, sacred pledges those men had ever made. 
They begged like children for the privilege of 
signing The Book of Life! 

“From the hospitals and homes, she went to 
Madison Square Garden, amid an ovation that 
almost shook the foundations of the city. New 
York, for the past century, had not been given 


CONVICTION AND STRENGTH 323 


to early going to bed! but that night many 
hundreds of thousands never slept at all 1 

“The entire police force filed into the main 
auditorium of Madison Square Garden and by 
fifties and hundreds they were healed of their 
dreadful malady of forty days’ duration. 
After that, if a mouse were carried off by a 
Westchester cat, the minutest details of the af- 
fair would be recorded at headquarters! 

“Signs and wonders were certainly begin- 
ning in the world! The newspapers next day, 
piled marvel upon marvel. Every language, 
broadcast over the earth, proclaimed the re- 
turn of the Messenger. No word or deed of 
hers escaped print. Her best photographs ap- 
peared on front pages in ten thousand cities. 
Christian and barbarian, Greek and Jew, Gen- 
tile and black men — all peoples, all tongues re- 
joiced and sang hallelujahs. 

“Conviction and strength of belief rose up in 
homes and crowded the highways. States and 
nations paused and listened. From that day 
they watched the onward progress of the Mes- 
senger and inquired after The Book of Life. 

“But while men gasped with joy at the en- 


324 THE KING’S COMING 


thralling news, the Messenger, in her full 
might, moved on with her world’s work. The 
Princess, given her beauty and charms again, 
was sent as a disciple, and entrusted with a 
Book of Life, to the Turks and Persians, in 
Turkeystan. Bolinbroke and Eppstein sailed 
for Israel. Lord Ronald-Davies cabled from 
Tokio, to say his faith had kept him straight 
ahead for the forty days and forty nights, and 
that he was making substantial progress. And 
the Messenger selected a talented Jewess, of 
New York, to complete her Retinue, and 
moved on to Chicago and the Great Western 
Plains of North America. The sun was high, 
the harvest golden, and the reapers waded in, 
singing a song of gladness!” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


“the spirit of the west” 



kARADES and demonstration recep- 
tions were relegated as inadequate 
means of appreciation. At Chicago, 
all the people came out! — it was no longer a 
question of using terms to express how many 
gathered themselves together; it became a 
problem how to manage the multitudes. St. 
Louis and Kansas City, like Chicago, threw 
away their gates, dropped hammers and ledg- 
ers, and all manner of work and play, and 
came in a body to hear and testify their belief. 

“The Spirit of the West, interpreted, meant 
wide open, clean loyalty. Those people from 
Chicago, on out to the Pacific, either do, or 
they do not. In the matter of believing the 
Messenger, they did, and as The St. Louis 
P ost-Dispatch wrote editorially ; ‘That’s all 
there is to it I’ 


“Along the route of the Missouri Pacific, to 
Kansas City, farmers and their families came 
for miles inland to the railway stations, and 


326 THE KING’S COMING 


even besieged the right-of-way in between, to 
catch a fleeting glimpse of Christ’s Messen- 
ger. Sometimes these crowds of felt-hatted, 
honest folk were several hundred yards, in 
solid phalanx, on both sides of the line. Nor 
was it mere curiosity that drew them from 
their homes. They believed, and hoped that 
a look, a smile, or perhaps a blessing, might 
fall to them to light the way to truth. 

“Enthusiasm in the countryside assemblies, 
at stopping-places, reached a peak that les- 
sened the glare of demonstrations in large 
cities. It was evinced in many amusing forms. 
Often the songs they sang, and the cheers 
they uttered, would have provoked laughter 
had not true-blue, genuine sincerity made them 
grand and heart-touching. For instance, as 
the special express ran into one town, an old 
fellow standing on a goods-box, waved his 
arms above his head, and cried: ‘By Gum! 
watch’er come!’ A common exclamation was 
‘Whoopie I ain’t she fine !’ But the intention to 
praise was always present, and only came out 
in inadequate words. 

“The most important value about the solid 


THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST 327 


West, • from the Mississippi River, was the 
deep thinking of the citizens. Doubting and 
wondering had been superseded by studying 
the Scriptures and planning for the future. If 
they could, they would have taken a real hand 
in worldwide preparations. They did sign 
The Book of Life and surrendered themselves 
to the Almighty King. 

“Over the Colorado border, where the hori- 
zon is broad and men’s souls free, the Messen- 
ger met the cowboys and their herds. They 
had staged for her, what the West considers 
the show of the earth — a roundup ! Of course, 
God’s representative would be interested in the 
richness of the Plains, ‘the critters’ that roam 
over vast grazings and make the ranchman’s 
bridge of plenty! If she were concerned in 
millions, she must see and appreciate the pro- 
vision the Creator has made for those who toil 
and think in the cities. It was the rollicking, 
galloping cowpuncher’s topic day and night, 
and his conception of demonstrating that his 
whole being accepted the Messenger, was to 
have her come with him and taste of the things 
of his life, and bring religion with her out 


328 THE KINGS COMING 


where heavy, tramping hoofs cause the ground 
to tremble. How could she refuse ? he believed 
it part of her mission ! 

“Therefore a telegram was sent to meet the 
train, advising that it would be expected of the 
company to break their journey at a given 
point, and drive with the cowboys ten miles to 
the roundup. The hour of arrival would be 
ten in the morning, and they promised to have 
the party back by three in the afternoon. Lord 
Stoddard looked twice at the message before 
he caught the senders’ spirit ; then chuckling to 
himself, he went to the Messenger. 

“ ‘The cowboys want you to stop off at a 
way station, to-morrow at ten, and see a round- 
up!’ the chief announced, squinting at her 
through his monocle. 

“ ‘Oh, what a treat!’ 

“ ‘Do I understand that you know what it 
is?’ 

“ ‘Of course ! Have I not read O. Henry 
and Bret Harte?’ 

“ ‘And you want to go ?’ 

“ ‘Yes; I want to go. That is the cowboy’s 
way of receiving me. Why, he w’ould not un- 


THE SPIRIT OF THE WESl 329 


derstand if I passed him by — the plains and his 
‘critters’ are everything to him. They are his 
London, his New York, his Paris. Do you 
not remember in one of O. Henry’s stories the 
cowpuncher who came to New York to spend a 
slice of his fortune in having a good time? He 
put in the greater part of his leisure buying 
choice saddles. He couldn’t think of anything 
else that pleased him more, so he bought roset- 
ted saddles, silver-mounted saddles, and just 
plain saddles. Answer the telegram immedi- 
ately, saying I shall be delighted.’ 

“ ‘No answer is required.’ 

“ ‘How like him — the cowboy never expects 
‘no’ for an answer.’ 

“Lord Stoddard did not know just how such 
a trip would be, but after his Superior’s hearty 
praise, there could be no decent way of de- 
clining. 

“One thousand rough riders met the train. 
They were clad in picturesque garb — leather 
trousers, fringed sheepskin leggings, big white 
hats, boots and spurs, forty-five Colts and 
cartridge belts; and their bronco mounts were 
white and black spotted, ring-streaked, gray. 


330 


THE KING’S COMING 


flea-bitten, sorrel, bluish drab, and other usual 
colors. They had rigged up four stage coaches, 
with six horses hitched to each. These were 
to convey the guests. 

“When the express slowed down, the Kings 
of the Wild West came running their ponies 
from all points of the compass, and yelling and 
shooting as if making an attack. The Retinue 
ladies were afraid, and some of them hid. The 
Soldiers in Waiting were up and at attention, 
as in the old days at the Marne and Verdun. 
But the Messenger caught the spirit of the 
West — the old West that will live on forever 
in the new West. 

“There and back the horses all ran, or gal- 
loped. The thousand cowboys all yelled and 
shot off their forty-fives! 

“And the roundup! Five thousand mooing 
and bawling cows and calves, heifers, year- 
olds, and two-year olds, had been stationed so 
as to make quick herding possible. A basin 
similar in topography, on a small scale, to the 
valley of Rheims had been chosen for the noisy 
bringing together. The Messenger stood on 
top of one of the stages while a few men, each 


THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST 331 


with a trained dog, went after the bellowing 
cattle. In ten minutes, the five scattered droves 
were bunched together in the basin, turning 
the center of it into a humming, buzzing mass 
that butted and gouged and crowded itself 
like a bed of boiling lava. They made a more 
deafening and continuous uproar than the 
thousand whooping cowboys, 

“Then there was the barbecue lunch and re- 
turn. 

“When The Book of Life Special was ready 
to move on, the Messenger stood on the rear 
of the observation car and addressed the west- 
ern men while they sat on their broncos. Their 
broad hats were in their hands, and they list- 
ened because they believed. The Messenger 
blessed them, and they scurried ofif at full tilt, 
sending up a cloud of dust and making the air 
hideous with their yells ! The engine gave two 
or three husky puffs. They were off — away 
from the sagebrush and herds, but with bigger 
hearts and a clearer vision. 

“Lord Stoddard said dryly but seriously: 
Tf you awsk me, there are different ways of 
worshipping God.’ 


332 


THE KING’S COMING 


“A stop in Denver, blessings for all the peo- 
ple, a hasty glance at Pike’s Peak and Buffalo 
Bill’s monument from City Park, and a dash 
through the Rockies brought them to the Mor- 
mon Temple. 

“The next halt in American lands was at 
San Francisco. 

“The sun was setting when the Alhambria 
glided slowly out of the Golden Gate. She was 
freshly painted, and ready for the over Pacific 
trip. Everything glowed and sparkled in tints 
of yellow-amethyst light. The Messenger, sta- 
tioned on the top lookout deck, said : 

“ T understand now why the Gate to the bay 
is so named, and why they call yonder land 
‘God’s Country.’ ’’ 


CHAPTER XXIV 


“Israel’s election” 

' ^EWERY had been stormy and fault- 
Q 1 finding in the old days, would it be 
united in choosing a king? They be- 
lieved Joshua and served the Lord while that 
generation lived, but their children turned 
aside and sinned, and worshipped Baal and 
Ashtoroth. Nations abroad asked the ques- 
tion: The Jews betrayed themselves in the 
time of the Judges, and were sold to the Phili- 
stines and Jesubites for periods of servitude 
from twenty to forty years — the modern Jew 
had clamored for restoration of Israel, would 
they, as one man, choose a wise ruler and stand 
by him? 

“There was a fear among politicians and 
schemers in Gentile countries that Bolinbroke 
and The Book of Life mirage might result in 
the rise of a powerful menace to the existing 
disorganized, or independent system. Much 
useless guessing and the futile attempt of 
American, English, and French diplomats. 


334 THE KING’S COMING 


when the plague came, had realized nothing 
tangible. Still men harbored suspicions. 
Somrfiow, too, these looking-for-trouble sages 
regarded Israel as the corner stone, and Bolin- 
broke’s paper, ‘The Internationalist,’ the 
mouthpiece, of The Book of Life peril. If, by 
any chance, the Jews proved to be ‘the same 
yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow,’ and 
would kick up a Hebrew row, a diplomatic way 
might easily be found whereby wiser and older 
nations could intervene and have sly hands in 
the governing. Hence, as spring came on, 
many a weather eye was riveted on the land of 
Jordan. If an intervention could be saddled 
upon the colt, and if some of the seasoned 
diplomats could be slipped in as advisors, why, 
Israel, The Book of Life, and Joseph Bolin- 
broke would be peacefully tethered. The mal- 
contents looked upon the Jewish election as 
the rope in the hands of the princes and elders. 

“From Simeon to Naphtali, Issachar, and 
Asher, and from Judah and Manasseh by the 
Great Sea to Gad and Gilead, Israel, was a 
roaring beehive. The provisional government 
appointed by Eppstein and Oppenheim, Bolin- 


ISRAEL'S ELECTION 335 


broke acting as counsellor, had proven a boon 
to incoming immigrants from America, Eng- 
land, and Russia. In the provinces, the^ore, 
the electors were excited and anxious lest they 
miss something of what had demonstrated it- 
self to be satisfactory, or overshoot the mark 
and get more than they wanted. 

“Several factors must be provided and put 
into working. The lawmaking body, to be 
called the Sanhedrin ; the law interpreting and 
enforcing, the Judges; and the executive and 
administrative, the King. What would be the 
outcome? Jews, like Irishmen, strive among 
themselves. 

“Some uncertainty existed in their midst. 
Cities, for the most part, had been bought up 
and settled by wealthy merchants from North 
America and England. French and Italian 
Jews took the vineyard sections, and the farm 
lands in the valley of the Jordan and the cattle 
raising provinces east of the Jordan were 
thickly settled by the down-trodden Russian 
Israelites. How would such oppositely edu- 
cated clans harmonize in selecting a spick and 
span government? A census was taken. 


336 THE KING’S COMING 


American and English Jews, in committee, di- 
vided the kingdom into Sanhedrin districts, 
and the English and French contingents did a 
lot of speechmaking. Three political parties 
sprang up, and each by votes in a joint primary 
named candidates. The result of that was 
rather confusing, for it seemed more than 
likely there would be considerable changing 
when the spring general election came on — all 
hoped for a strong corps of lawmakers and of- 
ficials. 

“The King ! His selection was the one thing 
of supreme importance. In the first place, his 
reign would be for twenty-five years, unless 
sooner terminated by death. He must also be 
a sovereign who could both unite and build the 
twentieth century Israel. Three nominees 
were placed before the democracy gathered 
lately from the four winds. 

“The voters-to-be were sobered by the sub- 
conscious knowledge, or intuition, that they 
were being watched. One or more journals, 
each in Germany, Russia, France, England, 
and the United States, had cartoons depicting 
the wayward stubbornness of Moses’s flock, 


ISRAELIS ELECTION 


337 


and Joshua’s armies, and the hint was sugges- 
tive of a possible repetition. Nothing of out- 
standing note was said, but while watching 
each other — particularly the Russian farmers 
and shepherds and herdsmen — they vowed to 
show the Gentiles a New Jerusalem. 

“In recalling the ancient Israelite, and diag- 
nosing his case, the intriguer overlooked di- 
versified education and contact for fifteen hun- 
dred years after A. D. 347 with Christian na- 
tions. Whereas, in the period from B. C. 1780 
to B. C. 543, when God afflicted the Chosen 
People, He sold them in bondage all to one 
nation — to Philistines, Canaanites, Jesubites — 
or by captivity into Babylon, heathens, pagans 
without exception. Their sojourn was usually 
from one to fourteen generations. Then the 
children of those who were being punished 
were liberated. It is no wonder that they 
longed for the flleshpots of Egypt and wanted 
to return to Baal and the gods of Ammon. 
Was it not this fighting against childhood im- 
pressions — the time when ripe fruit tastes as 
it never will again — that moved God, the hot 
and jealous ruler of the children of Abraham, 


338 THE KING’S COMING 


Isaac, and Jacob, to remember his gracious- 
ness and be lenient? But the modern men of 
circumcision were an invigorated race, 
stanch in Jewish ideals, and seasoned and 
caused to recollect by the hard knocks in a 
dozen varied, supermen countries. What 
powerful Christian nation had put her master- 
ful Jews in her Parliament, and made them 
Lord Chief Justices? What other Christian 
nation had appointed them to the Supreme 
Court and hung upon their commercial coun- 
cils ? The new Holy Land had the advantages 
of centuries of training abroad. To admit 
the whole truth, there was not another coun- 
try in Europe that possessed a wider experi- 
enced or more variedly educated population, 
than did the modern Kingdom of Israel. Why 
should not these happy men from everywhere 
co-ordinate their knowledge and practices to 
the general good? If, like the Irish, they 
would strive with each other, why could not 
even this be converted into good to keep civil 
government in clean hands? 

“Now this is what happened in that spring 
election: the electors did all the wise things 


ISRAELIS ELECTION 339 


they should have done had God been directing 
them out of the thunders of Mount Sinai. 
They elected a first class Sanhedrin, giving the 
constitutional party an overwhelming major- 
ity. The Judges were taken entirely from the 
English Jews, — the best lawyers in Christen- 
dom. Their terms, of course, were for life. 
And for Israel’s King, they chose Isaac Epp- 
stein 

“Notwithstanding his great forefather was 
never a king, Eppstein, the Aide, in deference 
to the name, took the throne under the title of 
Isaac II., King of all the Jews.” 


CHAPTER XXV 


“the far east” 

H ORD RONALD-DAVIES was just 
the man to prepare the way in China 
and Japan. That consisted merely in 
acquainting the rich and mighty with the gist 
of what the Messenger had accomplished, and 
the meaning of The Book of Life. It required 
Lord Stoddard to handle the governments and 
ultra exclusive sects. 

“The Canadian peer moved easily in all 
these circles, but his worth was for certain 
specific purposes, which he had fully accom- 
plished when the Alhambria arrived at Tokio. 
During his stay, he was busily engaged in 
breaking the ground in Tokio, Yokohama, Pe- 
kin, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Fuchau, Nankin, 
and other centers. The fallow, carefully 
raked, harrowed, and pulverized by Lord 
Ronald-Davies awaited Stoddard’s smooth but 
forceful fertilizing, by securing edicts, royal 
consent, good will of Buddhists and Confusion- 
ists and divers sects and castes, before it would 


THE FAR EAST 


341 


be ready for the sowing and harvesting by the 
Messenger. 

“It required these manifold, studied prepa- 
rations precedent to converting the exclusive 
Far East. China and Japan and India were, 
and always had been, puzzling problems in ad- 
vancing the work of the one and only true 
God. This was because they believed they 
worshipped true gods and practised better re- 
ligions. When people possess something ac- 
knowledged to be inferior, it is easy to convince 
them to avail themselves of a superior article. 
But when they are satisfied, the religion is 
adapted to their customs and habits of thought, 
and they are certain you offer inefficient, 
strange gods, your way to success is hope- 
lessly blocked. 

“Another blown-up bridge in the road was 
the past botches of missionaries. In fact, emis- 
saries of all denominations, being only too often 
enthusiastic weaklings, with no personality, 
adaptability, or previous preparation, had con- 
firmed the Far Easterner in his opinion that his 
own gods were superior, for he knew the phil- 
osophy of his religion, and the ministers and 


342 THE KING’S COMING 


teachers sent to Christianize were not always 
able to expound the Scriptures. The number 
of denominations of faiths confused, and 
caused Chinese and Japanese to doubt. They 
reasoned that since divisions among Christians 
showed disagreement, it would be safe to shun 
the lot. As a matter of fact, that is what they 
had been doing for so long, that missionaries 
had become more or less a joke. The Western 
churches often boasted of certain of their 
faithful ministers who had worked fifteen, 
eighteen, and twenty-five years in one place to 
convert ten to fifty heathens and were still 
sticking to their missions! The Buddhist’s, 
or Confucionist’s explanation of even this 
meager success, is that those who joined, for 
the most part, did so out of sympathy for the 
missionaries! A third infraction of western 
religionists was that scores of missionaries 
went out to engage in commercial business, and 
their successes were too often not won by the 
most ethical procedures. 

“Hence, ‘exclusive’ came to mean ‘closed.’ 
The man of the Far East also firmly believed 
his civilization to be superior and better 


THE FAR EAST 


343 


adapted to his need than European and Ameri- 
can or western civilizations; and having this 
conclusion burned into his mind by sinister, 
not to say, outrageous manipulations of na- 
tions other than his own, the years and decades 
of years before His Second Coming had made 
him decide to shut his ears, mind, and heart 
to strangers, in both religion and government. 

“In the early part of the twentieth century, 
however, by observation, Chinese and Japanese 
found out that Western governments were 
growing rich, whereas in the East they had dif- 
ficulty in paying imperial bills. More is the 
pity: they also noticed the unfair means em- 
ployed to gain prestige, wealth, and domin- 
ions. Along with this discovery came the feel- 
ing that the Far East was looked down upon — 
regarded as weak and lower in caste. Japan, 
and then China, began to imitate the West in 
commerce and war. In some schemings, they 
went one better than their models. ‘Nothing 
succeeds like success,’ concluded Japan after 
her victory over Russia. 

“Such premises, laboriously arrived at, 
coupled with the stoical undertow of unrecog- 


344 


THE KING’S COMING 


nized rights and ability, in India, had inspired 
farseeing statesmen to warn against possible 
coalition of Eastern races in the ‘Yellow 
Peril’ This latter probability was a real ob- 
stacle to internationalism, as proposed then at 
The Hague. 

“To state, therefore, that the Messenger 
faced the most nearly adamantine of her lands 
to win and warn is not diminutive of fact and 
truth. 

“Back at the beginning, in Paris, when the 
Aides were planning the route of progress 
around the world. Lord Stoddard advised 
leaving Japan, China, and India to the last lap, 
so that these countries, being inclined to imi- 
tate success elsewhere, might be influenced by 
accumulative evidence. 

“It will be noted that all precautions were 
taken, in advance, to open the way to whole- 
sale acceptance, if such a trophy could be had 
in the nations that were twice as old as Chris- 
tian lands of the West. 

“Carefully selected disciples already circu- 
lated The Book of Life, but it had met thus 
far with indifferent success, excefrt in Indk, 


THE FAR EAST 


345 


where the people, although as ill-used by mis- 
sionaries as the Far Easterners, took more 
kindly to the simple, non-conflicting, creedless 
proposition. In China and Japan, signers? 
Yes; but not enough. In the last stretch of the 
journey, seven hundred and fifty millions of 
the eight hundred millions population must be 
warned and as many millions as possible in- 
telligently induced to sign personally or make 
a mark. 

“Of course, the nearly four thousand fol- 
lowers who had come over from Liverpool, on 
the Alhamhria, were left in America. 

“Temporarily bound sections of The Book 
of Life, especially for those difficult parts of 
the world, were hurried from Bethlehem, and 
the Alhamhria, stocked with sufficient outfits 
to equip three thousand disciples, and space 
provided for one Million names, or marks for 
names made by the illiterate. Out of the fol- 
lowers who came, and from New York and 
San Francisco, the Messenger and Lord Stod- 
dard were gathering bright, alert, earnest 
young men disciples, so that when the Alham- 
hria sailed from San Francisco, she carried be- 


346 THE KING’S COMING 


sides the Messenger and her company and 
several hundred followers, three thousand two 
hundred disciples, to cover and conquer by 
grace and good works all that vast domain of 
human beings from the Islands of Japan 
straight through to Jerusalem, leaving nothing 
to north or south. 

“Stupendous is the only word that describes 
the undertaking. Lord Ronald-Davies was 
made commander-in-chief of these young men, 
to win by simple confession in the writing of a 
name, hundreds of millions of people to one 
God, the Supreme Divinity of Heaven and 
Earth. No one was to be overlooked; no, not 
even the children who were old enough to rea- 
son and believe. The Messenger could not go 
all the way — she could only visit, by slow ad- 
vances, the large coast cities, and send news of 
her accomplishments inland. It was all right 
to sweep through Europe and America, reason- 
ably fast, but not so with the peoples who 
change gradually, when convinced. No one 
could guess the time it would take to bring in 
seven hundred and fifty million additions to 
believe in The Book of Life! 


THE FAR EAST 


347 


“One fact was realized: the necessary ma- 
chinery wanted for getting the bulk of the 
world in unity for God and man, was in readi- 
ness. And it had for engineers and incompar- 
able managers Bolinbroke, Stoddard, and 
Ronald-Davies. Isaac II. guaranteed the ob- 
taining of every living Hebrew, who was cap- 
able of lisping God’s name and could be got 
at by man ! 

“Thus the campaign against the world’s 
seemingly strongest fortress was launched. 
How would it succeed? The answer is in the 
future pages of this record. 

“Lord Ronald-Davies apportioned the terri- 
tories, got his men in position, and established 
communications. 

“Governing heads, courts, castes, sects, in 
the High Places, were signed up under per- 
sonal direction of Lord Stoddard, and in many 
cases, commendatory words sent on down the 
long line. 

“Stoddard made it a point to see that the 
countries before the Messenger were duly im- 
pressed with the program. 


348 THE KING’S COMING 


“Bolinbroke saw to it that publicity and 
money and men were not lacking. 

“It was then up, face to face, with the Mes- 
senger. 

“Japan had heard of miracles, had read of 
them, and some miraculous wonders were 
claimed in the islands ; but when the Messenger 
went leisurely through the cities, towns, and 
rural places, healing all manner of diseases, 
restoring sight, making the lame walk, the 
Japanese sat right up and began to think. 
Japan would be done thoroughly to gain the 
impetus. Right away, philosophies, croonings 
to wood and stone images, fakirs, and prayer- 
wheel turnings, lost the savor wherewith they 
were salted. Here was the real thing — repre- 
sentative of the Living God, whether He be 
called Christ, Mohammed, Christnia, Buddha, 
Confucius. What did it matter? The Mes- 
senger said He was God. Her addresses were 
translated and printed in the language — they 
saw nothing in them like missionary talk: 
‘You are dead wrong; change quickly or hell- 
fire will get you !’ in fact, she criticized no man, 
no creed, no philosopher, no god. They could 


THE FAR EAST 


349 


not find, in reference to her Lord, anything 
they did not, already, in principle, believe ; and, 
as for His Second Coming, it was possible, 
since by her works she knew that High God of 
whom she spoke. They began to believe and 
followed her from city to city to see her do it 
again. Like Gideon, the Judge of Israel, they 
were taking no chances. 

“It will be recalled that after God had given 
Gideon by request, the sign of the burnt ofifer- 
ing, with the angel disappearing as soon as fire 
sprang up out of the rock, although convinced, 
he apologized to the Lord, because he asked for 
the sign of his own choosing, to-wit : he would 
lay a fleece of wool on the open threshing 
floor, and if, in the morning, the straw and 
grass on the floor should be dry, and only the 
fleece wet with dew, then he would be certain in 
his belief. The next morning, Gideon found 
the floor dry and wrung much dew out of the 
fleece. He sat down and thought it over a 
while. Finally, he concluded he would feel 
better if he had another try at it. So he called 
to the Lord, and said: 


350 THE KING’S COMING 


“'Let not thine anger be hot against me, 
and I will speak hut this once; let it now be 
dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the 
ground let there be dew. 

“ 'And God did so that night: for it was 
dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew 
on all the ground.’ 

“Then Gideon got up and went at the Medi- 
anites and Amalekites with hammer and tongs, 
so that with only three hundred Israelites at 
his back, he slew in the valley of Moreh many 
thousands of the enemy. He only wanted to be 
convinced. 

“It was so with the keen-eyed little Japs. 
They stuck close to the quiet, forcible Mes- 
senger and watched every move she made. 
Then to maintain absolute certainty in the cor- 
roborative evidence, they ran ahead, far afield, 
and brought the worst cases they could find. 
The Messenger came on, and healed them by 
simply asking God to show mercy. 

“But after the expenditure of time and 
patience, the Japanese believed and signed 
The Book of Life. 

“The Messenger went to Pekin. 

“Stoddard worked hard with the Forbidden 


THE FAR EAST 


351 


City and the powers that moved mysteriously 
through the Temple of Heaven. He had been 
heartened on leaving Japan by the news from 
Israel’s election, and put his back and brains 
in to overcome and claim for the Messenger 
the most difficult and exclusive city on earth, 
“In the meantime, as in Japan, the Messen- 
ger healed the Chinese by the tens of thousands 
of the most loathsome diseases known to man- 
kind. Anyone who has been to the Chinese 
cities, and Pekin in particular, will better un- 
derstand how the human body can literally rot 
while suffering a form of life. Fame from 
Japan had been brought by couriers, and as 
was said of Jesus, in A. D. 31, when He went 
about Galilee teaching: *And his fame went 
throughout all Syria, . . . and there followed 
him great multitudes of people from Galilee 
and Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and Ju- 
dea, and from beyond Jordan,’ could be said, 
in like manner of the Messenger, for the 
Chinamen that forsook everything to see her 
demonstrating the power of the Almighty, 
were as the sands of the seashore. It took just 
that to seize upon the honest, steadfastly fixed 


352 


THE KING’S COMING 


Chinese mind. Popular sentiment and popular 
fads have some weight, as elsewhere, but John 
Chinaman ‘no changee much quickee over 
night,’ — he must hear and see and know. 

“It is true, in three months, she had Pekin 
and surrounding country ablaze with enthusi- 
asm — and her fame had gone abroad in the 
land, so that they dropped their hammers and 
plows, paused in midstream and left the helm 
of the sampan idle; ricksaws halted in the 
streets, morsels of rice, almost to the mouth, 
slowed down; — all China listened and waited 
patiently for the Messenger to come along. 
There were too many Gideons among them. 
They believed what they heard, but wanted to 
see as well — and see it again. 

“ ‘My dear Messenger,’ said Lord Stoddard, 
one evening at the Palace of the Manchu Dy- 
nasty, which luxurious mansion had been lent 
for a home, ‘you can never live long enough to 
see all these Chinamen.’ 

“ ‘They want to see me?’ 

“ ‘Everyone of them, but you never could do 
it. Why, there are close on to five hundred 
millions of them !’ 


THE FAR EAST 353 


“ ‘Of course, it is physically impossible. 
Perhaps — in fact, there will, come to me a way. 
My Voices will speak.’ 

“Stoddard looked relieved. 

“ ‘You know. Escort, these are entirely un- 
touched fields — were so before we came, and 
they were old and bramble grown, and exceed- 
ingly set in their ways.’ 

“ ‘It is a wonder that we have got on so well. 
Lord Ronald-Davies reports that millions are 
signing, but each and everyone wants to see 
you ; or, at least, they want the third sign.’ 

“ ‘It is true.’ 

“ ‘By the way, have you noticed, in passing, 
a peculiarly carved stone, in the grove at the 
end of the city, just where you come in front of 
Hi Ming Ling’s palace?’ 

“ ‘It is not large, is it? — if you mean that 
splotched red one, with the sun carved in the 
middle circle.’ 

“ ‘That’s it. Messenger. I’m glad you’ve 
noticed it.’ 

“ ‘It is peculiar, but there are so many things 
with the sun on them, one scarcely stops to 
have a second look.’ 

“ ‘Well, there’s a curious story and a proph- 


354 


THE KING'S COMING 


ecy connected with it,’ said Lord Stoddard, 
moving nearer to the Messenger. 

“ ‘I did stop and examine the spots of pink- 
ish red in the stone to see if they were real, or 
painted. I found they seemed to be real, but if 
real, oddly set in when forming.’ 

“ ‘Exactly so !’ said Stoddard, ‘therein lies 
the whole story. The Minister of State told 
me about it to-day. Says it’s been lying there 
over nineteen hundred years; no one ever no- 
tices it, and few have heard the story, but 
since it befell his ancestor to make the proph- 
ecy, and the stone, he told it to me.’ 

“ ‘Tell it to me.’ 

“ ‘Your work is finished for the day?’ 

“ Yes. For once. I’m glad of it.’ 

“Lord Stoddard seated himself comfortably, 
and remained waiting while the Messenger ar- 
ranged some cushions. When they were both 
at ease, — for the atmosphere of the broad ori- 
ental room with its tapestry, carvings, orna- 
ments, and subdued, soothing lights, betok- 
ened rest and freedom from outside perplexi- 
ties, — the handsome, polished Englishman 
began the odd tradition of the Chinaman. 


THE FAR EAST 355 


“ ‘Something more than nineteen hundred 
years ago, according to the minister who told 
me to-day, a devoted adherent of the Chinese 
god, by name. Ling Pang Chin, had an inspira- 
tion to warn his empire to forsake all gods, 
save one, the Supreme Ruler of Heaven and 
Earth. Likewise, to simplify religious prac- 
tices. 

“ ‘His exhortations, of course, received 
little, or no attention, from the inhabitants. 
Nevertheless, for years. Ling Pang Chin went 
about as a tramp vagabond, crying in the high- 
ways, and on the street corners: ‘Make a 
single road for the Mighty, and walk studi- 
ously in the narrow way, for few there be who 
are able to follow to the end.’ 

“ ‘How like Christ’s doctrine!’ exclaimed the 
Messenger. 

“ ‘Just so. That is why this tale made an im- 
pression on me!’ 

“ ‘To continue, it seems, after a long try at 
this theology, he began to prophecy. Inas- 
much as they had not listened to him, a mere 
professor of the faith, the Supreme Ruler 
would be angry, but had promised to wait many 


356 


THE KING’S COMING 


centuries for men of China, and in other lands, 
to think it over — ponder it in their hearts.’ 

“ ‘How extraordinary. Escort !’ Marie sat 
up straight from her reclining position, and 
listened with increased interest. 

“ ‘The result of Ling Pang Chin’s giving 
them grace of centuries to consider the propo- 
sition, was that the people laughed. A clever 
ruse, they said, to evade acknowledging him- 
self to be a fraud. 

“ ‘In wrathful indignation, he enlarged upon 
the prophecy, saying that at the end of centu- 
ries, this One God’s Son would come and judge 
and cleanse the world, and compel all men to 
know one and only one Redeemer. There 
would be blackness at night, and semi-black- 
ness by day as a sign of His Coming. Also, 
following the obscuring of the sun and moon, 
the sun, afterwards for a space of six days, 
would be continuously more brilliant than ever 
before known to men. 

“ ‘Again they laughed, saying: ‘Ling Pang 
Chin would surely befuddle us with fantasy.’ 

“ ‘More wounded in pride than ever, and 
furious that his prophecy should be scorned, he 


THE FAR EAST 


357 


went rushing over the country, commanding 
people to come to him, in a grove, by Pekin, on 
a certain day, and they would see a sign from 
the True God. 

“ ‘A few curious idlers went, jostling each 
other and joking about Ling Pang Chin’s sign. 

“ ‘However, exactly at the hour named by 
the prophet, there was heard a loud clap of 
thunder out of the heavens, although the sky 
was as clear as crystal, and while the aged 
fakir stood in the grove, with uplifted hands, 
the pinkish red stone, we have both seen, fell 
straight down from above and smashed him 
into the ground.’ 

“ ‘Ugh !’ cried the Messenger shuddering. 

“ ‘The minister says the occurrence caused 
considerable anxiety at the time, but succes- 
sive generations pushed it aside, claiming that 
the old fellow found the curious rock, carved 
it, and suspended it over himself, in a treetop, 
from whence, by pulling a cord, he freed the 
mechanism, so that the stone fell and crushed 
him.’ 

“ ‘But it is as big as a large cart.’ 


358 


THE KING'S COMING 


“ ‘So it is, but that is the twist people gave 
to the thing.’ 

“ ‘I wonder if the legend is remembered to- 
day?’ 

“ ‘The minister said that only a very few 
know that Ling Pang Chin was his ancestor, 
and not many know the rock in the grove is the 
one associated with the tradition, but he says, 
there are still current in all parts of China vari- 
ous versions of the occurrence. Some tell it 
to the children under the title of ‘The Man 
Killed by His Lie.’ Others still, give it a most 
extraordinary turn of fancies, and use it to 
show what happens to people who dare mock 
the Chinese gods — it is called by them ‘The 
Blasphemer !’ 

“ ‘Extraordinary ! I’ve read a number of 
holy legends — Chinese, Hindoo, and North 
American Indian. It would seem that about 
the beginning of the Christian Era, numerous 
persons must have been inspired to spread 
news of His Coming. This one, however, is a 
step further in traditions — it refers to His Sec- 
ond Coming.’ 

“ ‘It’s possible,’ reflected Stoddard, ‘that 


THE FAR EAST 359 


travelers from the Holy Land, and from Syria, 
may have wandered, in course of time, from 
country to country, and given accounts of Jesus 
of Nazareth. Very likely, some of them were 
followers, or converts.’ 

“ ‘Notice, also this Ling Pang Chin tale 
dates back something over nineteen hundred 
years!’ 

“ ‘I had not thought of that.’ 

“ ‘May I smoke?’ 

“ ‘Certainly. Then the signs of His immedi- 
ate coming correspond.’ 

“Stoddard blew out the match, and nodded, 
indicating he recalled. 

“ ‘The exact wording of the Scriptures, on 
that point is; 

" ‘But in those days, after that tribula- 
tion, ■’ 

“ ‘St Mark here refers to the events that 
have gone on before the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, etc., and makes it very clear that Christ 
is foretelling His Second Coming. 

“ ‘Repeating, 

" 'After that tribulation, the sun shall be 
darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, and the stars of heaven shall fall/ 


360 


THE KING’S COMING 


“ ‘Undoubtedly,’ said Stoddard, ‘a convert 
from Jerusalem must have repeated Christ’s 
prophecy to Ling Pang Chin.’ 

“ ‘Do you also recall, my dear Escort, what 
Christ said of these signs? — according to St. 
Mark?’ 

“ ‘No; not at the moment.’ 

“ ‘He said: 

“ 'So ye in like manner, when ye shall see 
these things come to pass, know that it is 
nigh, even at the doors." 

“The Messenger arose suddenly, and walked 
away from Lord Stoddard, to the farthest cor- 
ner of the room. She stood motionless for 
several minutes. 

“Stoddard sat quietly observing her. He 
knew that she communed with her Voices. At 
such times, a queer, thrilling sensation crept 
over him. It was sacred to be in Holy Pres- 
ence. 

“Her back was to him, but he could see a 
firelight reflection of her face in the plateglass 
window. She listened and understood. The 
vision overcast her countenance with radiance. 
Her lips moved as though in reply. 


THE FAR EAST 361 


“Stoddard’s cigar went out. 

“With the shining glory still wreathing her 
features, the Messenger returned, walking 
slowly and thinking over what she had seen 
and heard. 

“Deeply moved, she said : 

“ ‘Of course, you knew I was talking with 
them again — the Voices.’ 

“‘Yes, and I would be willing to die if I 
could but once see and hear as you.’ 

“ ‘You will some day.’ 

“ ‘And what were you told?’ he asked rever- 
ently, eager to know. 

“ ‘St. Mark’s words are now to be fulfilled.’ 

“‘What!’ 

“However thoroughly we believe a thing is 
going to happen, when it does come, we are 
usually astonished. Especially is this true in 
religious matters, for, regardless of how 
strong and sincere the faith, one does not count 
upon it with the same exactitude as he does 
the crack of a rifle to put a ball into the object 
before its aim! And it is strange. Read the 
Scriptures. Although the twelve went about 
with Christ for three years, eye witnesses to 


362 THE KING’S COMING 


marvelous things without number, and not- 
withstanding the fact that He told them He 
would rise from the tomb the third day, when 
He did, and appeared before them in the way, 
they doubted! 

“Lord Stoddard believed, but at this an- 
nouncement he was astonished. 

“‘Yes; the first wonders are at hand. 
Gabriel himself spoke this time !’ 

“‘When?’ 

“ ‘The sun and moon will be darkened be- 
ginning in ten days, on the twentieth of the 
month.’ 

“The Escort sprang to his feet. Said he: 
‘That means that His Second Coming is nigh, 
even at the doors!’ 

“ ‘Precisely that’ 

“Stoddard added in a reflective tone : 

“ ‘But "even at the doors’ with God may 
mean longer than with men. With Him a day 
is a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
a day.’ 

“The Messenger divined his thought and 
smiled. 


THE FAR EAST 


363 


“ ‘It’ means comparatively soon, my dear 
Escort.’ 

“He was ashamed, and cast down his eyes. 

“ ‘I’m not afraid. Messenger. Are there 
any particulars.’ 

“ ‘Yes; this phenomena will last forty days 
and forty nights, lest men, who are so wise and 
conceited, say that a shorter sign is an eclipse. 
Besides, the sun afterwards, similar to Ling 
Pang Chin’s story, will startle the world with 
its brilliancy.’ 

“ ‘Perfectly wonderful !’ he said, striding 
heavily to and fro in the big room. 

“ ‘We must notify all the nations to prepare 
for the period of darkness.’ 

“A telegram went to Lord Ronald-Davies, at 
Tientsin, and a more explicit one to Joseph 
Bolinbroke, at Bethlehem. In concluding the 
latter, the Messenger added: ‘Notify the 

world.’ She well knew that Bolinbroke would 
do so, as no other man could — not a touch of 
advantage would be overlooked. 

“The Escort and the Messenger counselled 
together. They would |call the minister at 
once, and announce to him that his ancestor’s 


364 THE' KINGS COMING 


story was identical with Christ’s prophecy, and 
would be immediately fulfilled. He should give 
it wide publicity in China. The Ling Pang 
Chin part must be given prominence. 

“The minister came, and went away con- 
vinced and greatly excited. He promised to 
see that every paper in China, and all the of- 
ficials over the land, should get the full story 
and the warning. 

“ ‘That answers the question we raised early 
in the evening,’ said Lord Stoddard, when the 
minster had gone. ‘The big event is to hap- 
pen that will win China. The Ling Pang Chin 
legend will bring it closer to the Chinese heart’ 

“ ‘Yes, my Voices have spoken.’ 

“ ‘It takes something like that to move these 
people.’ 

“ ‘During the forty days of darkness,’ added 
the Messenger, smilling seriously, ‘all these 
millions of people will go about with candles 
and lanterns and find The Book of Life!’ 

“ ‘Jolly quick !’ He laughed loudly and long. 

“ ‘It will bring everybody else in as well.’ 

“ ‘Of course ! I was thinking mostly of our 
Chinese. Those young men, from America, 


THE FAR EAST 


365 


and elsewhere, we brought over, are having an 
awful time out in this vast empire with The 
Book. They do not speak the language, and 
have to depend upon printed notices and the 
little speech they have learned by rote. Those 
who have signed under this system, naturally 
have been the educated, responsible Chinese. 
No one could be brought in by intelligent per- 
suasion. Now the Lord will induce by His 
might, and all our disciples will have to do, is 
to sit tight and dip the pen ! I say. Messenger, 
it is altogether amazing !’ 

“His face showed the rousing fire of right- 
eous zeal that burned within his breast. 

“Kneeling at her feet, he asked that she lay 
her hands on his head and bless him, to give 
him strength and wisdom to endure and serve. 

“She did so, calling to Heaven to give him 
that larger portion of which he had proven 
himself worthy. 

“Bolinbroke shocked men everywhere with 
his cables of warning. Printing presses 
worked over time. Instruments of modern 
speed and utility scattered through the winds 
and over the seas explicit, detailed particulars. 


366 THE KING’S COMING 


Men and women stood on their thresholds, 
crying: ‘Will it be So!’ 

“It came to pass. On the twentieth of the 
month the sun hid his face, and the moon put 
on deepest mourning. By day, it was as dark 
as a starless night. From evening to morning, 
darkness was as black and fearful as would be 
a ten by ten chamber miles within the bowels 
of the earth. 

“Men’s hearts failed them. Many died from 
fright. There was wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. For the first' time everyone learned the 
meaning of prayer. ‘Our Father,’ ‘Hail Mary,’ 
‘The Credo,’ with a ^few; simple mechanically 
repeated requests, of the past — if they had 
been granted openly, on the spot, would have 
scared the suppliants to distraction — gave 
way to earnest petitions for mercy. They 
straightway forgot Joseph Bolinbroke’s assur- 
ances that this sign only meant that His Sec- 
ond Coming was to be soon realized. The 
people, well-informed, and otherwise, took that 
awful blackness to portend the end of the 
world, and an allround smashup, in which the 


THE FAR EAST 


367 


very just alone would be saved, and the unjust 
cast into everlasting fire. 

“They hunted and begged iov The Book of 
Life incessantly ; and but for refusal of the di- 
sciples to receive more than reasonable sums, 
the people would, in thousands of instances, 
have parted with all their substance. 

“At the end of the fortieth day, the veil of 
horror lifted, revealing trees and vegetation 
tender and blanched. Man and beast and liv- 
ing creature, alike, had scared looks and bulg- 
ing eyes, with the pupils enlarged. Thousands 
of the evil, weak and faint, and those suffering 
from heart troubles were dead. They had 
been buried by candle light. Weeping and 
anxiety were appalling. 

“But with the passing of thick, impenetrable, 
damp darkness, came the sun, in magnificent, 
gorgeous splendor, far beyond imaginations 
and descriptions, and he flamed a thousand 
times more brilliantly than in his former state. 
Yet the heat was not greater. Whereas, for- 
merly, light seemed to emanate from a spot of 
small dimension and to flow from east to west, 
the face of Old Sol covered a quarter of the 


368 THE KING'S COMING 


heavens, and he took up his position directly 
overhead! In a wide circle, round about the 
sun were huge pinkish red disks that trembled 
like immense bangles. This phenomenon con- 
tinued for six days and six nights I 

“This last extreme was worse than the first. 
Some instinctively abhor too much light. 
Those who were too dumbfounded in darkness 
to repent, begged for mercy in the light. 

“The sun, on the sixth day, shifted west- 
ward, as usually designated in speech, and set, 
perfectly red and pretty and peaceably normal, 
as in former years. That night, the north 
star and the milky way twinkled down upon the 
world, 

“A sigh of relief went up from every abode, 
which meant : ‘Oh, it’s good to he here!’ ” 


CHAPTER XXVI 



A LETTER 

’RGUMENT and persuasion came to an 
end. Men sought and acted of their 
own volition. China and India, and 
adjacent islands, accepted fully, and it only 
remained for the Messenger to proceed easily 
from city to city, to be seen of men and to re- 
joice over the power of the hand>of God. With 
one swift stroke ‘The Yellow Peril’ was gone, 
and its demise recorded by names put down in 
solemn earnest in The Book of Life. 

“About the hour of the sailing of the Al- 
hambria out of the China Sea, to make brief 
calls at Tientsin, Nankin, Fuchau, Shanghai, 
Hong Kong, etc., the Messenger received a 
letter postmarked at Mecca. 

“ ‘Put it into your pocket,’ she said to Lord 
Stoddard. ‘I’ll read it on the ship.’ 

“ ‘She was leaving her Soldiers in Waiting 
for the first time, with the exception of her en- 
forced absence in New York, and just then 


370 THE KING’S COMING 


they were coming in one by one to receive each 
her blessing. 

“These fine fellows, mostly from the West- 
ern front, of the Great World War, had not 
been figure heads in the Messenger’s Company. 
It is true they formed a part of useful parades, 
and did all kinds of work for the campaign, 
but they were men, fearless and strong, well- 
chosen, and now they were able, well-favored, 
experienced brain-workers. They were the 
Chief Executive heads of Lord Ronald- 
Davies’s organization. The occasion for go- 
ing away without them, therefore, was that 
they might continue in the overwhelming 
work of concluding The Book of Life in China. 

“First to come was Captain Bedouin Bald- 
win, V.C., formerly of London Scottish. Tall, 
athletic, bronzed, raw-boned man, of Aber- 
deen stock, he had all through merited the 
leadership of her twelve men. She blessed 
him, and was sorry when his kindly face was 
turned from her to go. 

“Next was Lieut. Leopold Reichert, I.C, 
from the King’s Guards, of Westphalia. He 
\von his honors in Hindenburg’s drive against 


A LETTER 371 


the Russians. A broad, heavy blond, with 
Bismarck’s face, he had been a bar of iron to 
her in managing transportation and baggage 
details. When she wanted anything on the 
minute, Lieut. Reichert got the order. His 
military training never left him. When she 
blessed him, although his big blue eyes were 
moist, he kissed the tips of her fingers, cracked 
his heels together, saluted, and marched out. 

“Major Rene de Halevy, bearing both 
Legion of Honor medal and wound marks 
from Mons, smiled and knelt before the Mes- 
senger. He was Norman, one of the last of 
the giants. Complexion swarthy, hair stiff and 
black, eyes black, bearing lofty and royal; he 
was worthy of first, but held second in com- 
mand of the twelve. 

“Two Americans, Henry Barnes, an officer 
in the Second Illinois, and William J. Trilby, 
1st Lieut., U. S. A. Cavalry, New York, both 
big men physically and mentally; one Can- 
adian, Gen. Richard j Plummet, of Medicine 
Hat, a double for Ronald-Davies ; three Bel- 
gian captains, typical of their country in phy- 
sique and bravery, Jean D’Arbon, Flemmet 


372 


THE KING'S COMING 


Bisterre, and Jules Raumb, always were en- 
gaged in profitable employment to advance the 
Messenger; Frank Saviola, the handsome, 
dashing Italian, Lieutenant from the Tyrol 
campaign, was her official trumpeter; Charles 
Tesa, Captain in the Hungarian foot soldiers, 
and Admiral Louis Bey, of the Turkish Navy, 
ranking in loyalty and capacity with the others, 
all came and said bood-bye, until they should 
join her in Bethlehem. 

“The Alhambria went away, loaded with 
Orientals, who would go as followers, some as 
far as Melbourne, others to Sydney, and India, 
and some as far as Joppa and Bethlehem. The 
grand ship was picturesque with her costumed 
passengers. She sat deep in the Yellow Sea, 
and moved majestically forward, the proudest 
galley that ever sailed the main. Her com- 
mander was the Forerunner of the Lord; her 
mounted piece of artillery, The Book of Life! 

“That balmy autumn evening, the Messen- 
ger caught eagerly at the same mood that came 
over her the last night in the Coliseum, at 
Rome. Often, unattended, she shimmered 
through the bright olive-tinted groups, and 


A LETTER 373 


was gone to hurricane deck, fore or aft, as a 
racing moonbeam, snatched from the silvery 
flood that christened the Alhambria with at- 
mospheric champagne. ‘Behold!’ her follow- 
ers whispered: ‘She plays, but as becomes a 
queen !’ 

“Her flights and skips took the course, at 
last, to the beautiful lookout deck. Up there 
she found Lord Stoddard, alone, musing over 
a cigar, in the lesser light that was but little 
short of day. He did not hear her gentle foot- 
fall, and presently she was beside him. 

“ ‘You are lonesome,’ she said. 

“He started. ‘Yes. Now I come to think of 
it, suppose I am. Just a quiet smoke, you 
know.’ 

“ ‘I have hunted for you all over. My let- 
ter.’ 

“ ‘I’m sorry to ’ 

“ ‘No, no ; it gave me an excuse. I’ve just 
flitted and flitted, every where> asking for my 
Escort, don’t you see?’ 

“His fixed habit was dear to him as ever, 
and quietly he screwed in his monocle before 
speaking. Perhaps it was the welling up 


374 


THE KING'S COMING 


of pride in his heart, that the pre- 
cious Messenger had been inquiring for him 
all over the ship, which confused him some- 
'what and caused him to forget what she had 
asked. 

“ ‘My letter?’ 

“ ‘I’m sorry, you surprised me — I’m stupidly 
dull to-night.’ 

“ ‘You’re never dull. Don’t say it again. 
The letter, please.’ 

“Ashamed that he had to be asked three 
times for it, with mumbled apologies, the en- 
velope was found and handed to its addressee. 

“It was Marie who lived that night. 

“She tore open the square envelope, marked 
‘To be opened only by the Messenger,’ and 
glanced at the end for the name. 

“ ‘Oh ! from Princess Aida !’ 

“Stoddard lightly tapped his foot to the 
music of the orchestra, while she read aloud : 

“‘My Dear Messenger: When I left you in 
New York, a year ago, I vowed I would re- 
deem myself before God and you, or hold my 
peace in steady, obscure work as long as I 
might live. My treatment of you and the 
flounting to the patience of our Christ, were so 


A LETTER 


375 


wantonly sharnefttl, I could not look a street 
dog in the face. But as I went, your generous 
forgiveness and the Lord's pardon put me 
stiffly to the front to battle for both of you, 
because I love you, 

7 have, in a measure, justified a letter I 
am now writing to prove my promises by an 
account of work. 

'A little history of what has transpired, 
particularly as regards me, in London, and in 
the first months of my struggle among these 
not-easy-to~persuade people, is best done with 
before I begin on the more vital subjects. 

'' 'My turbulent uncle, Rev. Theobald 
Brummell, was healed by you, at the time you 
restored New York's secret diplomats. His 
gout also left him, and he drove in a hansom- 
cab — he will not forsake all his old preju- 
dices — half over London to find the BOOK 
OF LIFE! Therefore, when I got to him, 
I found one of your most ardent supporters. 
He sent to Bethlehem for a BOOK OF LIFE 
and popped it down in his church — got same 
of your addresses, and proceeded to extol 
them to his, and other audiences. 

" 'Also, whereas I had scenes to wrench 
from him my money, previous to his conver- 
sion, he readily gave me all I required. His 
mining investments have made him wealthy. 
My father appointed him trustee of my prop- 
erty until I should marry, but Uncle passed it 
all over to me — three hundred thousand 
pounds — saying he hoped I would spend it 
principally in your cause. 


376 THE KING’S COMING 


'’'That is what I have done — nearly; I had 
fifty thousand pounds left when your an- 
nouncement of the sign of darkness came. 
After that things worked without so much 
urging and paying. 

7 keep in business relations with that 
magnanimous Aide, loseph Bolinbroke, but 
would not allow him to furnish me money. I 
got from him BOOK after BOOK, then sec- 
tions, to supply five hundred people I brought 
from England and France aftd Germany to 
work with me. I also persuaded him to give me 
the Armenians, Turks, all the peoples of Asia 
Minor, Persia and Arabia. I organized my 
own forces, and sturdily resisted the myriads 
of obstacles coming at me from all sides. 

"" Tt seems simple to state I have won. 
Sometimes I thought I would never get out of 
the Mount Ararat region. But I did — I have 
at least ninety-nine per cent, of the combined 
responsible inhabitants signed. They are nozv 
like a highly enthusiastic lot of mixed lambs 
bleating for some opportunity to serve. Here, 
in Mecca, I have had my BOOK OF LIFE 
stations in the Mohammedan mosques. My 
headquarters, at the finish, are in the chief 
and most famous of all mosques. 

'' ^That it is over, I rejoice, but I am panting 
for breath still. As the Duke of Wellington 
said of the Battle of Waterloo, 'Tt was the 
nearest run thing I ever saw!* But, thanks 
to you and God, it is accomplished, and well, 
too. 

" Tt would have broken my heart if I had 


A LETTER 


377 


failed. You see these people are the least 
thought of in the world. No one knows any- 
thing about them. The Turks? Yes; after 
Gallipoli, but the hordes of mixed, indescrib- 
abable tribes away in the mountains, many 
have never heard of them. No one cared, I 
came near to sitting down and crying over 
it and running off. But Tve won! Read if 
again: I HAVE WONT 

'The Messenger moved nearer to the elec- 
tric bulb, sponging her eyes with her handker- 
chief, as she endeavored to control emotion. 

" The Princess is completely changed,’ ob- 
served Lord Stoddard. 

" Tes, yes; she has become a dear, good 
woman. I shall proceed with the letter.’ 

T have received one comforting cheer — a 
letter from Lord Ronald-Davies, after you 
appointed him to manage THE BOOK OF 
LIFE in the Far East. When all is said and 
done, I am still a mere woman, and a word of 
commendation lifts the everyday humdrum 
burdens, I did not anszver him, for I wanted 
to accomplish my task first. It is done well, 
and if you will, you may tell him of my work, 
and thank him for me, for writing to encour- 
age me, 

hope he is human enough not to hold 
my past wickedness against me. If he should, 

I could never be — shall I say it would cause 


378 THE KING’S COMING 


a sadness, a pang that would ache deep down? 

“ ‘This is a very long letter. I had to write 
it. Messenger; I had to claim of your time and 
patience to learn that I have tried to fulfill my 
promise. I am leaving here to-morrow, to go 
to Bethlehem, and wanted to send in my re- 
port at the conclusion of my mission. 

“ ‘Good-bye. I shall tarry in Bethlehem to 
see you once more, for one smile from you; 
then I go to London. — Your affectionate fol- 
lower, Princess Aida.’ 

‘I shall send this letter to Lord Ronald- 
Davies/ said the Messenger. 

“ ‘He would appreciate it, I am sure.’ 

“The Messenger agreed with Lord Stod- 
dard on that point, and sat lost in her own 
thoughts for several minutes. 

“Lord Stoddard guessed at what might be 
going through her mind. He remembered 
that night, in the Coliseum, and also recalled 
passing moments on the Alhambria’s maiden 
voyage out of Liverpool. Was the idolized 
Messenger, at that minute, wondering if Lord 
Ronald-Davies would have forgotten? — was 
she not offering herself a willing sacrifice in 
sending the Princess’s letter on to his lordship? 

“ ‘I’m sure,’ said the Messenger, with a hint 


A LETTER 379 


of resignation in her voice, ‘Lord Ronald- 
Davies is human, and that he will not be cold 
and unresponsive to the Princess.’ 

“ ‘Oh, he will write her a nice letter, I sup- 
pose. The good woman is deserving of that. 
I hope she may return to London, and be happy 
all her life.’ 

“As he practised these empty sentences on 
the Messenger, he watched closely for the ef- 
fect. There was not the slightest change in 
her face. 

“Stoddard dropped his gaze to the floor, 
as her eyes turned to him, and some- 
how he felt guilty that he had dared to have 
aught to do with the sacred secret of her 
heart. He meant, though, to pour in the oil of 
hope, and had he but known it, the Messenger 
understood him. Therefore, she looked at 
him. 

“ ‘Well,’ she said, in the fullness of her sym- 
pathetic nature, ‘the Princess is a woman, as 
she says in her letter. May God bless her in 
the measure due women. I am glad for her.’ 

“The sensible man at her side, very pru- 


380 THE KINGS COMING 


dently, held his speech. At the end of a long 
interval, the Messenger said: 

“ ‘I wish sometimes I could be a mere wo- 
man!’ ” 


CHAPTER XXVII 


REINCARNATION 

ALHAMBRIA called at all the im- 
€ J portant coast cities in China and Aus- 
tralia, and dropped anchor one day be- 
fore Wellington, New Zealand. After this 
visit, she steamed for Calcutta, India. 

“At every landing stage, fresh multitudes 
assembled to be healed and to see the Messen- 
ger. The difficult work was all finished, there 
only remained the pleasure of administering 
mercy and serving the God of Heaven and 
earth. Wherever she went, she spread happi- 
ness; when she went away, God’s hold on the 
people was strengthened with the human link. 

“Calcutta, the city of romance and legend, 
the city all Hindoo in spite of being very much 
Anglicised, threw wide her portals to the 
King’s Messenger and her hosts of followers. 
The best that the Hindoo’s genuine heart could 
provide was laid out and ready. Native princes 
from there to Delhi, and north and west to the 
Himalaya Mountains’ boundary, far inland, 


382 


THE KING^S COMING 


even to the distant coast of Colombo, came to 
bring gifts and to worship the God of the Mes- 
senger. The peninsula’s four hundred mil- 
lions of people were solidly for her and The 
Book of Life. The sick and suffering were 
brought in from all over India and laid in ave- 
nues to facilitate their healing. The Messen- 
ger passed up and down, continually praying 
God to heal and have mercy, and every one 
went home whole and rejoicing. 

“The beautiful legends and mysteries could 
never be swept out of India, or else the noble 
spirit of the people would be wounded at the 
root of romance and music. Immediately God 
came to them in such unmistakable clearness, 
in good faith, they turned all their traditions 
of multiplied centuries to Him. Reincarnation 
became a real vehicle of explanations. 

“One very old, ascetic priest, in flowing robe 
and turban of prayer, sought an interview with 
the Messenger. He was a religionist, highly 
respected, and known throughout the borders 
of India, The Viceroy presented him. 

“Baba Preminand Bharrati embodied every- 
thing in form and personality dear to the Hin- 


REINCARNATION 383 


doos. In stature and build, he might have been 
one of the sons of Anak. He was educated 
and cultured, spoke English and other lan- 
guages. His mind and soul were dipped and 
saturated in love and sympathy, and emitted 
freely the sweet musical harmony of his be- 
loved India. 

“When ushered into the presence of the 
Messenger, he fell on his face, his hands out- 
spread, his forehead touching the carpet. Aris- 
ing, he brushed back his wealth of gray hair, 
as plentiful and as long as a woman’s, and the 
Messenger beheld a countenance handsome and 
strong, fashioned after the best Hindoo model, 
clear and bold, in which was no guile or deceit. 

“ ‘I have prayed these many years to see you. 
I am eighty — ^yesterday — we count from the 
day we gave ourselves to God. When I be- 
came ascetic I was twenty. 

“ ‘Now, I was saying I have wished to see 
you, dear Messenger. I tried to see you when 
you were incarnate in the north of India, but 
could not leave my work. 

“ ‘You may, or you may not know, but you 
have been dwelling upon earth, in reincarnate 


384 THE KING’S COMING 


form, for several thousand years. This is why 
I have prayed to see you. It is a joy to my 
eyes to behold you. 

“ ‘May I presume to recall your life since 
about the year B. C. 1536?’ 

“A gesture of assent was given and he pro- 
ceeded : 

“ ‘You were a man until the time of Christ. 
I shall not attempt to name your incarnate ex- 
istences, but only a few, to show that you have 
had a certain fixed mission, and have continued 
to be consistent. 

“ ‘At first you were Joshua, the son of Nun, 
a Messenger for Moses. Afterwards you were 
Elias, and became incarnate in John the Bap- 
tist. You were then the first Messenger of 
Christ — always a messenger. 

“ ‘The Lord was so incensed at Herodias for 
demanding through Salome, John’s head on a 
charger, that He vowed to make of you a wo- 
man. From that time you have been, at in- 
tervals, on earth, notably, in Europe, in Joan 
of Arc, your kinswoman. Also, in India, in 
the devout Princess Kristina. 

“ ‘You will now complete your mission of 


REINCARNATION 385 


more than three thousand years, and before 
long, be relieved of your heavenly official du- 
ties to live on to a ripe old age, as a natural 
woman, and be gathered unto the Father of 
the blessed!’ 

“Old Baba was serious about the entire nar- 
rative. He believed it and he believed in the 
One True God. He was a signer of The Book 
of Life. 

“But that was India. It is the manifesta- 
tion of mysteries and themes that cannot die, 
because they are inlaid by the steady, sure 
tread of centuries, and are part of the tissue 
of body, the ozone of the air, and honey of 
the soul. 

“ ‘Laying aside the question of belief — and 
I’m not criticizing anything so holy in concep- 
tion,’ said Lord Stoddard, feeling his way, and 
trying to be just and avoid all appearance of 
being flippant, ‘but if you awsk me, I am rather 
glad you are to be retired soon, to be allowed 
to — to live with us awhile.’ 

“ ‘Baba is a dear old man, Escort ; it was 
considerate of him to be thoughtful of me in 
the end.’ ” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


© 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 

OLINBROKE cabled to Colombo, stat- 
ing that the International Congress of 
Nations, still in session at the Hague, 
desired the Messenger to come and advise the 
members, in an address, of her work, specify 
the intention of the Bethlehem organization, 
and give them what aid she could in their de- 
liberations. The Manager in Chief suggested 
it might be more advantageous to go directly 
to Holland, rather than as proposed. The 
Temple was not quite completed. Besides, 
there had been a lingering doubt in diplomatic 
circles of the purposes of The Book of Life, 
aside from its union of God’s people, and it 
would, undoubtedly, be superior judgment to 
look to the Messenger to enlighten the ma- 
terial and political world. 

“This met with the hearty approval of Lord 
Stoddard. 

“The Messenger cabled, in reply, that the 
Alhambria would proceed immediately to The 
Hague. 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 387 


“In a few days, therefore, the Messenger 
was in the council chamber of the most august 
political body on earth. From being a joke, in 
the time of the World War, owing to the jeal- 
ousy of nations, it had finally become an in- 
ternational entity, indeed, representative of the 
intelligent aspirations of the best of men, and 
having before it the laudable aim of foment- 
ing and crystallizing a system of interco-oper- 
ation that would enhance the common weal of 
united political states. 

“The grave importance of the occasion, of 
what she should utter, and of convincing her 
hearers, put the Messenger on the same solid 
bedrock of her faith and knowledge, as when 
she was at the meeting in the Reichstag, in 
Berlin. She said : 

“ ‘Gentlemen and Ladies of the Interna- 
tional Congress of Nations: — When I entered 
upon my work several years ago, the world was 
bleeding from the last thrusts of battle, and 
each blamed the other for having brought on 
the holocaust of nations. Nevertheless, I 
hoped, then, for the millennial day when all 
should come together in one place, the lamb 


388 


THE KING’S COMING 


lying down with the lion, and the eagle not 
afraid of the leopard, to talk matters over and 
see if there might not be found a basis of 
mutual, friendly, satisfactory understanding, 
out of which would be perfected a strong bond 
of union. This Utopian dream is now realized, 
in so far that the International Congress ex- 
ists and has come together in one place. I am 
gratified and honored to be able to meet with 
you, and as the Messenger of Christ, acquaint 
you with what has been accomplished in the 
Far East, here in Europe, and everywhere, 
under the divine guidance of God. After that, 
I shall express an opinion, and in conclusion, 
if you wish, indicate what I pray will be molded 
into adamantine form and everlasting per- 
petuity in this session of your congress. 

“ ‘My simple mission required me to remind 
you and warn all peoples, in every land, to 
repent and prepare for His Second Coming. 
This I have consistently done throughout these 
years, as I have no hesitancy in believing my 
present audience will agree. It has been my 
studied care not to contravene the Scriptures, 
neither have I assailed creeds, denominations. 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 389 


philosophies, or sects, as is amply established 
from the fact that Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Prot- 
estant, Brahmin, Buddhist, Confucionist, and 
all the rest, of one accord, are at this moment 
united on one grand, all-important verity — 
that there is One True Almighty God!’ 
(Cheers) ‘nor have I assailed men or their in- 
stitutions ; nor yet have I condemned the 
world I 

“ ‘It has not been in my province to add to 
or take from the Scriptures — only to recall to 
people’s minds the things they have read, and 
read so often, that they had forgotten to be- 
lieve. And to correct false impressions, was 
I called. When did God or His Son say there 
would be no more miracles? Who had the 
authority to put into men’s minds that God 
had gone off for a season, and would never 
come back? That God lives and is all-power- 
ful, not one in all this universe would at this 
moment doubt. But when I started out to pro- 
claim His Second Coming, there were plenty 
who were saying, and multitudes ready to say : 
‘You are aware the Scriptures were written so 
near to that mythical Greek age, it is just pos- 


390 THE KING'S COMING 


sible the Bible is full of those allegorical, 
highly figurative word paintings; and was 
there ever a God?’ Was smoking Mount Sinai 
a reality? Was the period of darkness 
through which you have just passed real, or 
mythical? 

“ ‘Why, the language, in Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John is so plain and simple ! Christ 
tells them plainly He will come again, to reap 
the harvest of His sowing. Jesus made the 
statement in plain, unadorned language: 

“ When the Son of Man shall come in His 
glory, and all of the holy angels with Him, 
then shall He sit upon the throne of His 
glory: 

“ ‘These words were spoken just after He 
foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. Some 
have said He referred to his re-entry, at that 
time, into heaven ; others claimed that he refers 
to the final judgment. 

“ ‘But St. Mark puts the statement so clearly 
that there should have been no doubt before my 
acclaimations. 

“ ‘In St. Mark’s record, after Christ had 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 391 


concluded his prophecy of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, he said: 

“ ‘After that tribulation,’ — after the fall of 
Jerusalem and the flight of Israel, 

“ ‘the sun shall be darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light. . . . 

“‘Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye 
know not when the time is. For the Son of 
Man is as a man taking a far journey, who 
left his house and gave authority to his ser- 
vants, and to every man his work, and com- 
manded the porter to watch.’ 

‘‘ ‘These brief outlines give you an epi- 
tome of my one and only theme. I have not 
deviated from it ; I have not enlarged upon it ; 
I have not gone into controversial matters, nor 
have I expressed my own opinions. Only to- 
day will I give my opinion, because it is re- 
quested of me by the world. That God has 
been with me, you own; that I have succeeded 
in my mission you acknowledge.’ (Loud ap- 
plause.) 

“ ‘You will agree that in these modern times, 
such a far-reaching and such an astounding 
campaign for righteousness could only be made 
successful for God by employing the up-to-date 


392 THE KING'S COMING 


methods devisable. Need I apologize for hav- 
ing, at God’s request, selected these men sit- 
ting by me now on this forum — ^Joseph Bolin- 
broke, Lord Stoddard, and Isaac II., of Israel ! 
(Applause.) Did we not use the one and only 
means to unite all the world ? — The Book of 
Life! (Cheers and applause.) Christ said; 
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for 
all nations.’ How could these nations be bound 
together, except on a foundation principle, one 
God, and by what means, save their own simple 
written confession? There is no other way. 
For two thousand years men have tried. The 
more they labored with complex devices, the 
more the cable of truth parted and ravelled 
into subdivisions. I point to The Book of 
Life, gentlemen and ladies, which is almost 
filled — there are now one billion, four hundred 
thirty-nine millions, nine hundred twenty thou- 
sand, one hundred three signers and marks for 
signers up to the first day of this month! 
Everyone of this army says : ‘I believe in Al- 
mighty God!’ (Prolonged cheers.) 

“‘You inquire of the intentions of the 
organization at Bethlehem. 


INFORMATION. OPINION, ADVICE 393 


“ ‘Gentlemen and ladies, the intentions are 
two — only two ; 

“ ' 1 . To keep the people in God’s fold and 
doers of His righteousness. 

“ ‘ 2 . To see to it, when compelled, that pre- 
datory powers or interests do not impose 
upon the people. 

“ ‘It is not the intention, nor will it be the 
act of these gentlemen, in Bethlehem, through 
The Book of Life, ‘The Internationalist,’ or 
any other medium, to interfere with, or hinder, 
handicap, or control, or curtail the lawful, 
legitimate operations, existence, or stability of 
any state, principality, dependency, kingdom, 
empire, or republic. 

“ ‘We only recommend the plan of an Inter- 
national Republic, now before you, and for 
which my three Aides have worked. It hamp- 
ers no nation — it lessens the burdens of man- 
kind and does away with wars on land or sea. 

“ ‘I come now to the second part of my ad- 
dress — an opinion. 

“ ‘Fear has gone abroad that because of the 
manifestations of divine power, in the period 
of total darkness, that the world is to be de~ 


394 


THE KING’S COMING 


stroyed. Such an interpretation has been 
given to portions of the Scriptures. It is my 
opinion that neither His Second Coming, nor 
the Judgment which follows, signify or prom- 
ise destruction of the world. End of the 
world? Yes. Have I not by uniting the world 
for God ended the old world, the old regime? 
Of course, I have; and you honorable repre- 
sentatives of the people, here assembled, are 
now in the throes of finishing the troubles of 
material, political, jealousies by proposing to 
the legislative bodies of the earth some such 
scheme of international union as that recom- 
mended by our Bethlehem organization. If 
you do, we and The Book of Life, with God’s 
help, promise you success.’ (Cheers and pro- 
longed applause.) 

“ ‘That is the end of this world, — of the dis- 
organized scheme of the past ! 

“ ‘In my opinion, there is nothing that pre- 
dicts destruction. The one passage — failure of 
the sun and moon to give light — has come and 
gone. The world, the old world died with this 
darkness. The new world is even now here. 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 395 


When He comes, the New Jerusalem will be 
established. 

“ ‘If the honorable gentlemen and ladies are 
students of the Scriptures, they must read 
nothing in them save mercy and let live. Death 
only comes to a finality when disobedience is 
beyond endurance. God said to Moses: ‘Go 
in and occupy the land; increase and multiply.’ 
— a gospel of live and thrive. Christ rebuked 
his disciples again and again, by telling them 
He came to save, not to destroy. The trouble 
is, people out of ignorant blindness have mis- 
taken the fulfillment of prophecies for destruc- 
tion. That is absurd. All prophecies must be 
fulfilled. Reread the four gospels, and ob- 
serve how particular Christ was that every 
little detail of prophecy should come true. He 
was born in Bethlehem, because the prophet 
had said : ‘Out of Bethlehem, etc.,’ Joseph fled 
to Egypt, that it might be fulfilled, ‘he called 
His Son out of Egypt.’ Upon returning, Jo- 
seph and Mary went aside into Nazareth, for it 
was written, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’ 

“ ‘The New Testament is the new law. 
Christ came, at the beginning of the Christian 


396 THE KINGS COMING 


Era, to fulfill the old law. But how is it the 
false impression is general that the Old Testa- 
ment is annulled? Far from it — ^how about 
the foundation of truth and righteousness? 
How about prophecies yet unfulfilled? Recall 
Christ’s own words; in which he assured his 
disciples that every word, every jot and tittle 
of the prophecies should and would be ful- 
filled. Rightly did He cry then, and could He 
have cried before my message to this age: 
‘Oh, perverse generation! Why have you let 
yourselves be deceived by slothful ignorance 
and the twaddling tongues of men I’ 

“ ‘Again in support of my opinion, I think 
that this new world that God and you shall 
make, will go on forever, as it has ever been 
the Lord’s wish — oh! fond hope! Again and 
again, in His message to His people. He shows 
the yearning in His great heart for a new 
world and a new Jerusalem. In communing 
with Isaiah, He enlarged that heart, and took 
in all the world to be His children, Gentiles as 
well as Jews. In that same prophecy, God an- 
swers the opinion you asked me to gpve — what 
are His intentions towards the world? Read 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 397 


the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. You may 
forget to do so — Fll quote to this International 
Congress of nations the latter half of that 
chapter — God’s words, God’s promises to all 
men, everywhere: 

*Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is 
found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it 
not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my 
servants* sakes, that I may not destroy them, 
all. And I will bring forth a seed out of 
Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my 
mountains; and mine elect shall inherit it, and 
my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon 
shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of 
Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, 
for my people that have sought me. {Gen- 
tiles.) 

'But ye are they that forsake the Lord, 
that forget my holy mountains, that prepare a 
table for that troop, and that furnish a drink 
offering unto that number. Therefore, will I 
number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow 
down to the slaughter; because when I called, 
ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not 
hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did 
choose that wherein I delighted not. There- 
fore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, my ser- 
vants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: be- 
hold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be 
ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for 
joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of 
heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 


398 THE KINCS COMING 


And ye shall leave your name for a curse un- 
to my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay 
thee, and call his servants by another name: 
that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall 
bless himself in the God of truth; because the 
former troubles are forgotten, and because 
they are hid from mine eyes. 

Tor, behold, I create new heavens and a 
new earth: and the former shall not be re- 
membered, nor come into mind. But ye shall 
be glad and rejoice forever in that which I 
create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a re- 
joicing, and her people a joy. And I will re- 
joice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and 
the voice of weeping shall be no more heard 
in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be 
no more thence an infant of days, nor an old 
man that hath not filled his days: for the 
child shall die an hundred years old; but the 
sinner being an hundred years old shall be ac- 
cursed. And they shall build houses and in- 
habit them; and they shall plant vineyards, 
and eat the fruit from them. They shall not 
build and another inhabit; they shall not 
plant, and another eat; for as the days of a 
tree are the days of my people, and mine elect 
shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 

They shall not labor in vain nor bring forth 
for trouble: for they are the seed of the 
blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with 
them. And it shall come to pass, that before 
they call, I shall answer; and while they are 
yet speaking, I will hear. 

“ *The wolf and the lamb shall feed to- \ 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 399 


gether, and the lion shall eat straw like the 
bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain saith the Lord.' 

“ ‘In every chapter of the Scriptures are ex- 
pressions of good will towards man, condi- 
tional that he obey and serve the Lord. The 
world has become mighty and prosperous ; men 
are now, for the first time united in God; why 
should the world be destroyed ? There be many 
among the signers of The Book of Life who 
are hypocrites and vile; hence the Judgment 
which Christ will institute immediately He 
comes. The evil shall wail and gnash their 
teeth, not the just. The world will end for 
the wicked, not for the righteous. Search the 
Scriptures and be ready for His Second Com- 
ing. 

“ ‘Having given my opinion, I am depend- 
ent upon my hearers, as to whether or not I 
shall express my wishes in the form of ad- 
vice. (‘Go on! Go on!’ came from every part 
of the assembly chamber.) 

“ ‘This is the day of enlightened awakening. 
When God speaks openly in legislative halls. 


AOO 


THE KING’S COMING 


and gives the world a sign, promised two thou- 
sand years before, it is evident that He lives ; 
that the thunders are in His hand; that in His 
creative might, he could momentarily turn the 
earth into a paradise or degrade it to a deso- 
late swamp of black mud. But God is mercy 
and love; not cruelty and hate. Has He not 
given men a chance? In sending me to you, in 
giving the sign of darkness, in giving me the 
power to heal the sick. He shows you that He 
wills you happiness and long life — that He 
wants you to escape Judgment by fleeing into 
His arms. Then your responsibility, in this 
convention of nations is grave. You must 
live up to God’s expectations, or you incur His 
displeasure. 

“ ‘Why have wars come ? Because of the 
sins of men or the wrongs of nations. Why 
have people been oppressed, and heavy bur- 
dens laid upon them? Because of the sins of 
men or the wrongs of nations. Why have not 
nations united for peace and justice ? Because 
of the sins of men or the greed and jealousies 
of governing powers. 

“ ‘Public conscience is now prompting men 


INFORMATION. OPINION. ADVICE 401 


and nations to move in concert for security 
against aggressions and remedies for all polit- 
ical evils. You, as the representatives of that 
world conscience and intelligence, have the 
welfare of the future in your hands. God and 
posterity will hold you accountable for your 
acts this day. 

“ ‘New boundaries have been fixed among 
those nations that were at war. Questions of 
indemnities and rights have been settled. 

“ ‘You have before you a comprehensive 
plan of international union, that under the di- 
rection of Joseph Bolinbroke and Lord Stod- 
dard, received signatures of approval of 
crowned heads, presidents, and wise men, as 
individuals, prior to its being presented to you 
for consideration. That document provides 
for establishing the International Republic, 
with a constitution similar to lesser democratic 
republics. Legislative, judicial, and executive 
powers are, under its provisions, administered 
by a parliament, constituted of judges selected 
from the various member nations, and a presi- 
dent and vice-president, cabinet of ministers, 
etc., chosen by an expression of the will of all. 


402 


THE KING'S COMING 


There are sections in the International Con- 
stitution, which in effect guarantee lasting 
peace. Standing armies and navies and arma- 
ments are minimized and kept where the ex- 
penditures therefor do not oppress. The seas 
are thrown open to all, with restrictions to 
none; one flag, on sea, is carried by every na- 
tion — a beautiful flag, red with one large white 
star in the center, a blue field in the upper left 
hand corner, containing perfect small flags of 
all countries that have been admitted as units 
in the International Republic. 

“ ‘Many wise provisions are inserted making 
the laws of marriage and divorce uniform. 
Postal rates are made the same, and a regula- 
tion suggested for such laws as affect a wide 
range of peoples. 

“ ‘And yet no nation is hampered, handi- 
capped, or made less great. No powers or per- 
quisites are taken from them. In a word, the 
International Republic aims to set up a sov- 
ereignty to hold in her hands strong cables 
fastened inextricably to the hearts of all, and 
to take unto herself those universal preroga- 


INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE 403 


tives that are to be administered for the equity 
of nations and mankind. 

“ ‘I advise you, gentlemen, to adopt the docu- 
ment providing for the International Republic, 
and lay drafts of it before every nation for ac- 
ceptance.’ 

“(Prolonged cheers and loud applause.) 

“The dear lawyer is always present to be 
justified before men. He was a member of the 
International Congress of Nations. In fact, 
many of his profession sat in the assembly. 
One of them, the Hon. George Peabody Watts, 
of Boston, waited until the cheering had sub- 
sided, and arose, making polite apologies, and 
begged leave to ask a question. This being 
granted, he praised the Messenger’s address, 
in appropriate rhetorical periods, then pro- 
ceeded thus: 

“ Tn that part of your address devoted to 
the intentions of the Bethlehem organization, 
under caption two, you stated, if I remember 
correctly, ‘To see to it, if compelled, that the 
people are protected against aggressions of 
predatory interests and powers.’ Who shall 
be the judge of these aggressions, or oppres- 


404 THE KING'S COMING 


sions, to warrant intervention of the power 
couched in The Book of Life?' 

“The Messenger replied: 

“‘Almighty God!’ ” 


CHAPTER XXIX 


“dedication of the temple” 

O NCE more the Alhamhria pushed out 
to sea, through the English Channel, 
and was soon in the Mediterranean, 
her nose pointed straight for ancient Joppa. 
The International Congress had passed the In- 
ternational Republic measure and recom- 
mended it to all nations. Reports, from Beth- 
lehem, stated that the Memorial Temple of the 
Lord was finished. Therefore, the Messenger 
and company and thousands of followers were 
en route to be present at the dedication. 

“They arrived when midspring was cloth- 
ing the hills and valleys with tender verdure. 
The storms, famines, and wars of multiplied 
centuries had not marred the covering of fields, 
the freshness of gardens, the sparkling brook, 
or the grandeur of the cedars of Lebanon. 
Mount Hermon, in the north. Mount Carmel 
and Mount Gerizim, in the East, and Mount 
of Olives and Mount Nebo, in the south, tow- 
ered their heads about the wrecks, triumphs. 


406 


THE KING’S COMING 


and vicissitudes of ages, and welcomed the re- 
turn of God’s universal peoples to the birth- 
place of truth and righteousness. 

“A vast concourse of mankind, from far and 
near, travelled by trains, motor vehicles, and 
aeroplanes inland, from Joppa. Other armies 
came from north, south, and east — all journey- 
ing to Bethlehem. The cloud of the Lord had 
already descended from heaven, in the form of 
a great funnel, and rested above His Me- 
morial. By day, from the sea and the moun- 
tains afar off, it could be seen, by the eager, 
excited pilgrims. By night, it gleamed and 
blazed as a pillar of fire. As the mixed 
throngs came, they sang, in their hearts, with 
King David; 

“‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all 
ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: 
Come before his presence with singing. 

“ ‘Know ye that the Lord he is God, it is 
he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; 
we are his people, and the sheep of his pas- 
ture. 

“‘Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, 
and into his courts with praise: be thankful 
unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord 
is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his 
truth endureth to all generations’ 


DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE 407 


“And all they that came beheld a city, mod- 
ern to the last cottage in the suburbs, and 
builded after the patterns of architects, engi- 
neers, and landscape gardeners. There was 
room for everybody, and not as it had been in 
the days of Joseph and Mary, when they turned 
aside in the stables of cows and sheep. Bolin- 
broke had encouraged the erection of hotels. 
These were thrown open to the crowds. 
Round about the city, like the camps of Israel, 
were thousands of white tents to accommo- 
date the overflow. 

“In the center of Bethlehem rose up majes- 
tically the finished monument of The Book of 
Life — the Memorial Temple. Its glistening, 
polished granite walls, columns, minarets, and 
battlements stood out and above all else as a 
diamond on a mound of gold. The dome, 
greater than St. Paul’s, St. Peter’s, or the 
Washington Capitol’s, climbed two hundred 
feet higher than the already surmounting 
mass, and poked its gilded pinnacle into the 
very cloud of God. The whole symmetrical, 
imposing, commanding, magnificent last word 
of art, science, material, and workmanship. 


408 THE KING’S COMING 


seemed to say: 'Men reared me on the Holy 
Manger, but I am proud to be the Lord’s Tem- 
ple and the House of Nations.’ 

“It would require a volume to describe the 
carvings, groups, and statues that adorned its 
walls, copings, and entrances. 

“The fifteen stories of halls, assembly 
chambers. Auditorium of Nations, galleries, 
archives’ rooms, reception parlors, and offices, 
were finished in purest white Italian marble. 
Lighting and heating, decorations, lines, form, 
arrangement, ever3rthing was perfect and sat- 
isfying to the most critical. 

“Over the main entrance, without, was the 
Star of Bethlehem, guiding the troop of wise 
men. 

“Within the main ground floor, rotunda, di- 
rectly beneath the central dome, was set, in 
life size carvings of marble and fine colored 
stone, a complete reproduction of the manger 
scene, — the Babe of Bethlehem, Mary his 
mother, Joseph, the cows, sheep, and the wise 
men worshipping and offering gifts. Prisms 
and panels of art glass, in the dome, cast a 
holy halo, as it were, on the event that had 


DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE 409 


reclaimed the world. At the front edge of the 
bronze railing that protected this grand work, 
on a huge granite globe, representing the earth, 
stood a commanding lifelike statue of Marie 
the Messenger, clasping under her left arm 
The Book of Life, and pointing with her right 
hand to the scene of nativity below! — ^her 
doves, Peter and John, just alighting on her 
shoulders. The pose was firm and strong, but 
graceful; the radiant splendor of the face as 
if it had been caught and fixed at the moment 
of communing with her Voices. 

“This circular rotunda was arranged as an 
arena, around and up from which rose tier 
after tier of seats. Above the main seats were 
galleries, having outside entrances, all center- 
ing to the Nativity, and within ear range of 
the speaker’s stand, on the north side, opposite 
the entrance. This tabernacle of nations seated 
comfortably fifty thousand people. 

“Around on the outside of the grand audi- 
torium, were wide side passages and elevators 
to the stories and tower. 

“Here gathered the first united world’s audi- 


410 THE KING'S COMING 


ence to give thanks and praise to the One True 
God ! Six thousand years of persistent, 
merciful patience to win His children! 

"There was no address from men. The Mes- 
senger appeared on the speaker’s rostrum, her 
Aides and Ladies seated in semi-circles back 
of her, and coming to the front bar, raised her 
hands heavenward and stood motionless, in 
the attitude of adoration. 

"In the resting cloud above the Temple could 
be heard rumbling of royal predominance. 
There was a tremor of earth and elements, but 
the fifty thousands within and the thousands 
and thousands without, were not afraid, for 
they had come to know God. 

"Slowly while she beckoned to His throne, 
the space above the Nativity was filled with a 
dazzling cloud of light, and out of the sacred 
screen, came a voice saying: 

“ T am the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, 
and this, from henceforth, my Temple. Seek 
and you shall find; knock and it shall be 
opened to you. Whatsoever you ask in my 
name, believing, that shall you receive. 

“ ‘The Messenger’s work is fulfilled. In 


DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE 411 


her I am well pleased. She shall now dwell 
among you as one of you to a ripe old age. 

" ‘Rest in peace with my blessings until My 
Son comes shortly to judge the World and sit 
on His throne of glory.’ 


CHAPTER XXX 


HIS COMING 



“‘And the stars of heaven shall fall, and 
the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.’ 

’ND afterwards when the new regime 
became accustomed, and men had re- 
flected over the past, and had time in 
which to become righteous through worship, 
meditation, and good works, the heavens were 
overcast, and the rumbling thunders of the 
Lord shook the earth and appeared to crash 
and displace the solar system. 

“Men who had heard the Messenger, and 
sprang up in quick faith like the seed that fell 
in shallow ground, and men who had gone 
back, having been smothered with evil, as were 
the seeds that fell among thorns, cried out in 
anguish, and wept aloud for deliverance. 

“The Judgment was at hand, and His Sec- 
ond Coming could be expected any moment. 

“Again darkness shrouded the universe. 
Mutterings of disturbed elements and blasts of 


HIS COMING 


413 


deafening roars broke loose in the midst of the 
firmament, which threatened to desecrate 
heaven and earth. Then stars fell in torrents, 
battering the peaks of mountains and splash- 
ing the dark restless seas. Phosphorescent 
flashes and sparks of brilliant light from the 
planets filled all space, and the earth and her 
cities were made luminous, as if oozing white 
and purplish flame. And the horrible darkness 
crowded in the more, to do battle with the 
chunks and slabs of the astronomical galaxy. 
Jupiter seemed to hurl useless satellites at Nep- 
tune, and Saturn to belch forth red hot stars 
to warm up Mars. For seventy-two hours, 
there was not a moment of lessening blackness 
nor a let-up of blinding, terrifying, sizzling 
glare. Then, suddenly, there burst a booming 
crack of thunder that was like the explosion of 
all the works of God. The thick clouds parted 
in the zenith; the raining bits of fire dwindled 
to an occasional glint shot athwart the orbit of 
the unknown, making the heavens seem to suf- 
fer being sewn up by needles of gleaming steel, 
and there smiled the azure blue of a peaceful 


414 THE KING’S COMING 


sky and the sheen of a perfect day ! His wrath 
was spent. 

“The cities that had neglected to be cleansed 
were destroyed and all the evil men in them, 
but these were few, for although there were 
bad and indifferent mingled everywhere, the 
Almighty God spared the world from the stars, 
for the sake of those millions that were right- 
eous. 

“In the fullness of that perfect day, when 
the last discarded star had been dropped from 
its axis, people left off trembling and came out 
of their cottages, houses, and palaces to give 
thanks. While they were amazed at seeing 
nothing for the most part changed or harmed, 
the trackless, endless vastness of the firmament 
of blue was filled with music and singing that 
stirred the souls of men. All the earth halted 
still and gazed upward to heaven. They saw 
the Mighty Christ coming in all His Glory. 
Millions of angels, in choirs of holy conception, 
radiated from Him over space, and in ad- 
vance came Gabriel and St. Michael, leading 
the host of trumpeters. The gates of the City 
of the Redeemed were thrown open, and there 


HIS COMING 415 


came out continuously other myriads of angels, 
gilded with the dazzling halo from the throne 
of power and mercy, so that the breadth and 
depth of creation — heaven and earth, the fixed 
stars, the planets, and scores of other worlds, 
— might know there was nothing like unto the 
Glory of the Son of Man. 

“The continents of earth, its poles, the 
oceans and seas, and the men, women, and 
children that in them dwelt, and everything 
wherein is the breath of life, beheld the Christ, 
the Son of God, coming in the clouds ; and they 
knew him, and those who had believed and 
were able answered the angels in psalms and 
hallelujahs. In royal divinity He visited, in 
successive days, cities of men, and their habi- 
tations, no matter how humble, and walked 
and talked with humanity, that never again 
might anyone doubt the verity of God. 

“His angels went forth into the uttermost 
borders of the earth, and gathered unto Him 
all nations to judgment. Then men remem- 
bered His words in the beginning, and the 
parable illustrating His considerateness for the 
faithful : 


416 


THE KING'S COMING 


'' ^The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto 
a man which sowed good seed in his field: 
but while men slept, his enemy came and 
sowed tares among the wheat, and went his 
way. 

'But when the blade was sprung up, and 
brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares 
also. 

" 'So the servants of the householder came 
and said unto him. Sir, didst not thou sow 
good seed in thy field? From whence then 
hath it tares? He said unto them, an enemy 
hath done this. The servants said unto him. 
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them 
up? 

" 'But he said. Nay; lest while ye gather up 
the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 

Let both grow together until the harvest: and 
in the time of harvest I will say to the reap^ 
ers. Gather ye together first the tares, and 
bind them in bundles to burn them: BUT 
GATHER THE WHEAT INTO MY 
BARN.' 

He came He went. The Almighty God 
appointed His throne, and His glory and King- 
doms were established. The celestial power 
and graciousness thereof extended to the 
world, that His reign of love and compassion 
might go on forever.’" 


CHAPTER XXXI 


Stoddard’s plans 



S one rousing himself from a holy 
trance, Lord Stoddard turned to his 
secretary and said : “The Book is fin- 


ished.” 

For six weeks, the peer and Mills Benning- 
ton had worked faithfully on the manuscript 
of His Second Coming. It was difficult for 
them to bring themselves back to mundane ex- 
istence. Their minds had been caught up and 
influenced by Stoddard’s literal portrayal of 
the fulfillment of God’s promises, 

“What do you think of it. Mills?” 

It was the first time the young man had been 
called upon for an opinion. Throughout, he 
had been occupied entirely at the typewriter, 
copying Stoddard’s creation. 

“You have made it very real, your Lord- 
ship.” 

“Is it convincing?” 

“Technically, yes; that is, you’ve constructed 
a story of His Second Coming and the World’s 


418 THE KINGS COMING 


Conquest which would be possible, provided 
the miracles happened as you described them. 
The periods of darkness and light, occurring 
when the Messenger reached China would tend 
to convert the human family in a body.” 

Bennington’s manner indicated something 
reserved. He was twenty-five years old, an 
Oxford man, a superior type of clear-headed, 
hard-as-flint Britisher. His steady blue eyes 
rested on Stoddard’s face. 

“Well, what is it? — what’s back in your 
head. Mills?” 

“The people won’t believe it !” 

“I agree with you.” 

Mills looked surprised. He asked: 

“Why?” 

“Because they don’t believe the Bible.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“A shamefully small percentage of the 
world’s population believes the Bible literally — 
I should say if an absolute test could be made, 
not more than five per cent, of the total popu- 
lation. I’m afraid it would be less than that.” 

“But the churches?” 

“Ah! there you are. Mills. Now, don’t mis- 


STODDARD’S PLANS 


419 


understand me. There are millions of true be- 
lievers in God — what they believe and how they 
believe does not matter. Multiplied millions 
are Christians. The great Book among all of 
them is the Bible. They use it as a sort of 
mystic code — a compilation of figurative texts 
for sermons. They believe it in part — what 
they want to believe. But they profess to the 
world that they believe all the Scriptures.” 

“But your Lordship believes the Bible lit- 
erally?” 

“I do.” 

“And this book?” 

“It puts down in fictional form what may be 
expected to happen to mankind.” 

“Why did you write it?” 

“To make men think. If they admit one 
miracle in the Bible, then His Second Coming 
is possible to them. If they reject the proba- 
bility of my story, and give in support of their 
argument that they do not believe the Bible’s 
miracles, then it is high time for them to dis- 
card the Bible as a sacred Book. It would 
become a mythical, historical fiction.” 


420 THE KINGS COMING 


“It would be interesting to know the world’s 
opinion of your book.” 

“So it would, Mills. The fact is, modern 
churches are spiritual failures. The world has 
outgrown them. But people want to believe in 
God. If this story I have written of His Sec- 
ond Coming can be published and given wide 
circulation, it will cause men everywhere to 
reflect. It will do good whether they believe 
it or not — many a thoughtful man would say, 
after reading it and thinking it over: Tt 
should happen!’ ” 

During the next week. Lord Stoddard se- 
lected a publishing house and had long talks 
with the managers. They could give him no 
decision until the book had been passed upon 
by several readers. 

That routine consumed four weeks, at the 
end of which time, the manuscript was re- 
turned, with the usual polite letter of thanks. 
The book was not suited to their particular re- 
quirements at the moment, etc.; but no doubt 
some other publishers would be glad to con- 
sider it. 

Stoddard then went to the publisher and had 


STODDARD’S PLANS 


421 


a further talk. He wanted to know what was 
wrong with his book. 

“I’m not presuming to criticize your work,” 
said the manager, “that is the most unsatis- 
factory task a man ever set for himself — he 
can never be sure he’s right. It is easy enough 
to criticize — one can find fault with anything, 
if he tries. Publishers who have been in the 
business for a half century make mistakes. I 
might sit down here and tell you that 'His Sec- 
ond Coming’ is all wrong; that the people 
would never purchase it. Then you may go 
across the street and find publishers who would 
say the opposite and be right.” 

“Then why do you reject it?” 

“Well, it seems too improbable.” 

Stoddard smiled. 

“I thought so, Spencer.” 

The publisher laughed and offered a cigar. 

“Look here, Spencer. Suppose I had come 
into your offices in May, 1914, with a novel 
entitled 'The Beginning of Sorrows,’ in which 
I had portrayed the World War, and in work- 
ing out my plot had foretold the stupendous 
happenings of that catastrophe — and incident- 


422 THE KING’S COMING 


ally mentioned the losses of lives, the sink- 
ings of ships, and the huge loans made by the 
various nations : you would have said : ‘Sorry, 
old chap, but your story is entirely too im- 
probable !’ ” 

“Yes, yes. But there you are; people will 
not believe. It is strange, Stoddard, but man 
must live in the present.” 

Aide Delwynn of yesterday, went home to 
his Kensington Garden apartments with his 
brows knitted in thought. 

He found his secretary sitting before the 
grate smoking an aged pipe. 

“Well?” Mills asked. 

“As I told you — ^he doesn’t believe it.” 

“Humph!” 

“I say. Mills, have Riggs pack our trunks. 
Fm going to Bethlehem and build the Memo- 
rial Temple myself. Take along The Book of 
Life and the manuscript of His Second Com- 
ing. I shall publish the book after I’ve ” 

“Have you advised with anyone?” 

“Why should I?” 

“Oh, it seems such a — well; it does require 
some thought, doesn’t it, now?” Mills stam- 


STODDARD’S PLANS 


423 


mered along uncertainly as if ready to protest 
himself. 

“That’s all right, Mills; you don’t have to 
believe. I do. I’m going to build that Tem- 
ple — rather, I’m going to build a Memorial 
Temple and launch The Book of Life move- 
ment to unite mankind in one simple declara- 
tion of faith.” 

“I’ll go along. The thing has taken hold of 
me, your Lordship. 

“What about the book?” 

“Oh, I must find the Messenger! If she ap- 
proves, I’ll publish the book myself — if I never 
find her. I’ll publish it anyway.” 

“You have no news of her?” 

“None. It is puzzling. And I’ve lost the 
addresses of Bolinbroke and Eppstein. The 
whole thing is strange, Mills. How could she 
get away and no one see her? How could all 
this come and then vanish ?” 

Stoddard filled his pipe and lounged in a low 
chair. 

After nearly a half hour of silence, during 
which both men had not spoken, the telephone 
rang loudly, causing Mills to start. 


424 


THE KING’S COMING 


“Answer it,” said Stoddard impatiently — r 

“one of those agencies, I suppose.” ‘ 

“Insists on speaking to you, Stoddard.” 1 

His Lordship took the receiver and listened > 
to a lengthy talk at the other end of the wire. ^ 
“All right,” said he to the fellow, “I’ll send 
the check for a hundred pounds.” ; 

Meditation continued for a few minutes, ^ 
■when Stoddard said suddenly: 

“That’s the Jones-Griffen Agency. Send \ 
them a check for one hundred. ^ 

“They say a young woman answering the 
description of Marie D’Estanger was seen two 
months ago walking about the Coliseum ruins 
at Rome. Bit indefinite — ‘answering the de- 
scription.’ Send the check, though. I suppose 
it’s worth something to have a guess from ex- 
perts.” 

Mills put away some papers and looked at 
his watch. 

“I say. Mills; I’ve an inspiration. That 
girl’s wandering about somewhere out there. 

7 must find her. She may be in Rome right 
now. You and Riggs get ready to leave to- 
morrow. I’ll go to Bethlehem and start the 
Temple; then I’ll look for The Messenger.” 


CHAPTER XXXII 


THE MODEL 


^TODDARD surprised quiet Bethlehem 
with a small army of builders, archi- 
tects, sculptors, and artisans. Yet no 
one was taken into his full confidence. He pur- 
chased the necessary ground, complied with 
government formalities, and began to con- 
struct a monument to God. It was just as sys- 
tematic as that, without the least bluster or 
fanfare of pomp. 

The Memorial Temple in plan and details 
would be an exact fulfillment of the Aide’s 
dream in his novel, except about one-third less 
in size. He had resolved to make it, indeed, a 
memorial, and the beginning of a determined 


campaign to unite all nations in a single sim- 
ple declaration of faith — belief in one true 
Father of Heaven and Earth, the Almighty 
God, Creator and Ruler Supreme, and His Son 
and the Holy Spirit. Month after month the 
work progressed, each stone and steel girder 
passing under the Englishman’s eye. Idling 



426 


THE KING’S COMING 


crowds of people gazed on wonderingly, but 
beyond the loose, generic term “church” they 
were in possession of no further information 
as to Stoddard’s project. The completed arch 
over the main entrance bearing the star and 
legend and the words The Lord’s Memorial 
Temple, confirmed their understanding that it 
was to be a house of Christian worship. A 
few came down from Jerusalem, five miles 
away, to view the beautiful edifice, but they, 
too, returned satisfied with the vague designa- 
tion. Anyway, Jerusalem was too busy to take 
much notice of church building. Israel had 
been restored as the result of British victories 
in the Great World War, and thousands were 
flocking to the most famous city of all history. 
Doings in Bethlehem were overshadowed by 
the hum and buzz of modern enterprise strug- 
gling for footholds in Jerusalem. Hither had 
come ambitious men from every civilized me- 
tropolis, full of their own schemes, and they 
had no time to waste on a somber British peer 
who foolishly spent his millions in constructing 
an office building away off in Bethlehem ! Why 
did he not locate his property on Christian 


THE MODEL 427 


Street or David Street, in Jerusalem? If he 
were figuring on various church societies rent- 
ing spaces in his Temple, he could have asked 
more by planting his pile of granite at the 
corner of Christian and David, or Christian 
and Palace. And thus outside curiousity ran 
while men clamored for a few square feet in 
the world’s latest boom. 

But Stoddard clinging to his idee fixe and 
his monocle, kept on molding a concrete ex- 
ample of his faith. At the end of eighteen 
months, the Temple was completed, except 
the installation of Marie d’Estanger’s statue 
as The Messenger. As soon as the imperious 
Italian sculptor finished this priceless piece, 
and it had been set up on the terrestrial globe 
within the Nativity enclosure, then The Lord's 
Memorial Temple would be thrown open to 
the public. On another part of the grounds, 
in a set of new buildings, printing presses and 
binderies were turning out the first copies of 
The Internationalist and large numbers of The 
Book of Life. The little bulldog Briton had 
to live up to his character — he meant to begin 
to warn and unite all men everywhere. He 


428 


THE KING’S COMING 


did not know the how to give up; he was so 
constituted that when once convinced and thor- 
oughly converted, he had to fight on to the 
end. 

However, the statue of The Messenger gave 
Stoddard more worry than the Temple and all 
its complex furnishings. And to add to his 
anxieties, the Italian sculptor was most exas- 
perating. He would not allow Stoddard to in- 
spect the work as it progressed. 

“No,” the Briton was told, “you have de- 
scribed the lady precisely; I make the statue 
so, and you have to take it. I do my best. You 
tell me the statue must be exactly like the 
original, yet you furnish me no photograph — 
only descriptions. I travel over France and 
other countries looking for a young lady to 
pose for this statue, is it not so? I find no- 
body; I come back to Bethlehem and use a 
beautiful lady here — I must have my way, my 
Lord. Leave me to work. If the statue does 
not look like this Marie, then am I to be 
blamed? It will suit you- — do not fear, but 
please, please leave me to work. No, no, no; 
you cannot enter my studio !” 


THE MODEL 429 


“It is unreasonable, Bertibone; I must see 
the statue. I cannot have it set up in the 
Nativity unless it is a perfect reproduction of 
Marie as she appeared, representing the Mes- 
senger of Christ. I am immovable on that 
point. It must be The Messenger in marble.” 

“His Lordship will greatly oblige an humble 
artist by departing in peace. Does he suppose 
for one moment that Bertibone would come to 
Bethlehem and set up a studio to work out an 
enthusiast’s mere descriptions of a lady, if he 
were not convinced he could do it properly — 
your descriptions, give me more of them, yes ; 
but keep out of my studio. You pay me just 
the same, and do what you like with my crea- 
tion.” 

“But the lady who sits for you?” 

“No, no, NO ; you shall not annoy her. What 
is a humble Bethlehemite to my Lord? Go 
and find this Marie — fetch her to me, then 
compare my work. Until you do this, or I 
finish, please for my peace of mind, leave me !” 

Lord Stoddard went away, his face very red. 
In the old days, he would have used violent 
language. But now he was forced to abide the 


430 


THE KING'S COMING 


whim of a curly-headed, black-bristled mus- 
tached artist, who got real pleasure out of be- 
ing arbitrary. 

Nor was it possible to find Marie. He and 
his secretary. Mills, had searched the whole of 
Europe. Stoddard himself had visited every 
village and city in the Holy Land, to make 
sure she was not living near the place of 
Christ’s first appearance. No one had seen her 
— even the report from Rome proved ground- 
less. 

But when Stoddard returned to his house, 
after his last pleading with Bertibone, Mills 
handed him a large square envelope that was 
filled front and back with postmarks. 

“It’s been pretty well over, your Lordship,” 
said the genteel, well groomed Mills. 

Stoddard turned the envelope over several 
times. It was addressed simply: “Mr. D. 
Stoddard, Hotel Savoy, London.” The orig- 
inal postmark was Paris, more than a year 
previous. It had been to New York, Chicago, 
San Francisco, Pekin, Melbourne, back to 
Paris, and no one knew by what circumstance 
it left ofif chasing Mr. David Stoddard, of Lon- 


THE MODEL 


431 


don, who was so careful to leave stamps for 
forwarding, and get deflected to Lord Stod- 
dard, of Bethlehem. Anyway, the resolute ad- 
vocate of His Second Coming held the travel 
worn letter in his hand, and readjusted his 
monocle while he took a third look at the writ- 
ing. He opened the envelope and read : 

dear Aide: My Voices have spoke^i 
at last. I am told that my special mission 
was completed in the one announcement in 
Paris; that hereafter I am to be as other 
people, and work and believe as any faithful 
child of God. His Second Coming will surely 
happen when God is ready, and some day men 
will remember my warning. I shall never 
cease to pray and live in expectation of that 
Great Event. 

''After leaving Paris, I went to Palestine 
and wandered about from place to place, 
waiting for my instructions. When my 
Voices came, I was at Nazareth. I came 
back to Paris at once, and am writing you 
this letter, in the hope that I shall see you 
soon. I shall wait here a month to hear from 
you. and if no word comes, or you do not 
visit me, I shall return to Israel, where I 
prefer to dwell permanently. Sincerely 
yours, Marie d’Estanger.” 

‘'Read this, Mills!'’ exclaimed Stoddard. 
“It's from her ! — The Messenger T 


432 


THE KING’S COMING 


Mills sprang to his feet and seized the letter. 

“By Jove, Stoddard! Where is she?” 

“Somewhere here, in Israel.” 

“Where has she been?” 

“Here in Israel. Read it for yourself. And, 
hurry, we’ve got to find her at once, before 
that sculptor completes the statue.” 

It would be three weeks before Bertibone’s 
work could be inspected, and Stoddard and 
Mills searched Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and all 
the Nazareth country for Marie! At Kefr 
Kenna, the village four miles north of Naza- 
reth, then but recently renamed Cana, as the 
supposed site of Jesus’s first miracle, they 
found an ancient house which The Messenger 
had bought and restored. On one gate post 
was a plate, bearing the inscription : 

Tradition says this was the house in 
which Jesus the Christ turned water into 
wine, at the wedding feast." 

Another plate on the heavy door proclaimed 
the single word MARIE. 

The house was furnished beautifully, as it 
might have been at the time of the noble’s wed- 
ding. Marie had endeavored to put everything 


THE MODEL 433 


back as it was when Christ and His Mother 
were guests under that ancient roof. The 
renovators had brought out of the cellar, an 
earthen jar, supposed to be the identical one 
into which the water was poured that Jesus 
made into wine. The old housekeeper de- 
clared her faith in the jar’s genuineness. 

“Marie,” said the old woman, “is in Jeru- 
salem, or thereabouts. She was here last 
Saturday.” 

Stoddard was excited. 

“What does she do with this old house?” 

“It’s her home, sir, part of the year. She 
says she bought it to preserve it in memory of 
her Lord’s work. She lives here part of the 
year, and the rest of the time, somewhere 
about Jerusalem.” 

“When will she return?” 

“In about a week.” 

“Do you know where I may find her?” 

“I do not.” 

“Extraordinary !” 

“It’s not, sir,” replied the shrewd old 
French crone. “I never ask my lady questions. 
She was once Christ’s Messenger! I merely 


434 THE KING’S COMING 


keep her house, and she goes and conies at 
will.” 

“But I want to find her !” 

“No doubt, sir. You will please come, when 
my lady is at home.” 

“She left no word?” Stoddard was becom- 
ing desperate. 

“Only that I should put the house in order 
for next week. After the tenth, she said she 
would return with at least three guests — three 
gentlemen. I’m sure she said.” 

“And that was all?” 

“Yes, except she said she would be in Beth- 
lehem at the opening of a certain Memorial 
Temple.” 

“Nothing more?” 

“No. I’m afraid, sir, I’ve done wrong to 
be giving you that much information. I was 
instructed not to answer inquiries. But you 
looked distressed, and I believe you to be a 
gentleman.” 

“I am. Did Mademoiselle never speak of 
her Aides at her Paris announcement of His 
Second Coming? I’m sure she has.” 

“Yes.” 


THE MODEL 435 


“Well, I’m Aide Delwynn.” 

The efficient housekeeper threw up her 
hands in astonishment. Stoddard could see 
that she knew him. 

“Mademoiselle Marie has spoken of me?” 

A happy light was in Madame Dinant’s 
eyes. 

“Yes, yes; often I assure you. But, please 
when you find her do not say I talked so much. 
Oh, Monsieur, I have been imprudent ! Made- 
moiselle is so gay and joyous, making plans, 
and I, an old woman, talk and endanger her 
secret. I will not speak of her again; no, no, 
no!” 

With cordial steadfastness Madame Dinant 
stuck to her resolution, and avoided further 
answers to questions. 

There was just one other delicious bit she let 
escape while she was showing Stoddard the 
house and gardens. 

For some minutes, Stoddard walked on the 
wide flat roof court, taking note of the mar- 
velous views southwest toward Mount Tabor 
and eastward in the direction of ancient Tibe- 
rias. Capable Madame Dinant rattled on 


436 THE KING’S COMING 


volubly, pointing to various objects of interest 
in the small village — particularly the tiny 
church, erected where Christ stood and spoke 
to the people the last time he came to Cana. 

Then they descended by the broad outside 
stone stairs, and passed under climbing roses 
and trellised honeysuckles, just coming into 
full bloom. The paved walk led to the well, out 
of which came the water that was made wine. 
Then they stood by the fountain that had 
probably been wrought in the spring’s cliff 
shortly after the Jews returned from Babylon. 
An inscription carved in the bowl’s bas-relief 
placed its antiquity. 

“What excellent taste Mademoiselle has 
used in restoring this house !” 

“Oh, yes ! She said she bought it and fixed 
it up that she might some day be married 
here.” 

“Ah!” 

“Oh, Monsieur! Mademoiselle is sweetly 
sentimental. Ah, very, very beautiful is my 
lady! But you will see her soon.” 

“I hope so.” Stoddard was wondering 


THE MODEL 437 


about Marie’s having bought the place that 
she might be married there. 

“Ah, but why hope, Monsieur? — You will 
see her soon.” 

“I’ve been searching all over Europe for 
her.” 

“But you did not come into this lonely grove 
of olives. Monsieur! You did not know what 
was hidden back in here I” 

“No; and I’ve passed along the road many 
times. Only this morning I decided to venture 
within.” 

“And seel You find Marie’s home.” 

“Now I must find Marie.” 

Stoddard escaped from Madame’s kind 
attentions, and hurried in his automobile to 
the Sea of Galilee, to pick up Mills. 

“Mills, get in — have your luggage brought 
at once! She’s in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. 
I’ve found her home at Cana of Galilee.” 

Lackeys brought Mill’s hand bag from the 
inn, and in a few minutes the big automobile 
was wheezing and groaning down the Valley 
of the Jordan toward Jerusalem. 


438 THE KING’S COMING 


It was Mills’s turn to join in the excitement 
of his Lordship. 

“Tell me all about it, Stoddard. I must see 
that old house.” 

“Of course you’ll see it. I mean to make 
it my home!” 

Mills laughed. 

“You’ll marry The Messenger?” 

Stoddard had his eyes screwed fast onto 
the new road which was filled with great tour- 
ing cars, both coming and going. 

“Of course, that’s what I mean — if I can 
ever find her and get her consent 1” 

Mills took a liberty seldom indulged in with 
Lord Stoddard — he slapped his employer’s 
back! 

“That’s right! — that’s the way to talk!” 

The younger man’s voice was charged with 
rejoicing. 

“Your Lordship will find her. I say, 
though, isn’t it odd she never found you in 
Bethlehem? Something strange about that, 
eh?” 

For answer Stoddard moved his head 
slightly toward Mills and winked mischiev- 


THE MODEL 439 


ously! Instantly, there was a cry of alarm 
from someone nearby. 

Stoddard’s eye off the road for the second 
almost cost them their lives. The car was 
stopped with its front guard touching a mon- 
ster Rolls-Royce that had also been halted 
while approaching headlong. 

The two drivers glared at each other! 

“Hello, there! Why, it’s Stoddard. Isaac, 
it’s Stoddard!” 

Both men rushed out of the Rolls-Royce and 
started for Stoddard — he was going to them 
as fast as he could. 

“Well, well !” cried Bolinbroke. 

“Hello, Del !” shouted Isaac. 

Stoddard had both of their hands, and was 
calling loudly to them. 

He introduced Mills. 

“I say. Aides, what’re you doing here ?” 

Bolinbroke answered : “The Messenger sent 
for us. Have you seen her to-day?” 

“No; I haven’t seen her since we separated 
in Paris.” 

“That’s funny. She wrote she’d seen you.” 

“Yes, Joe. I found that out to-day. I’ve 


440 THE KING’S COMING 


just discovered her home at Cana, of Galilee. 
She’s playing a prank of some sort.” 

“H’m !” grunted Eppstein. 

“That’s where we’re going now — Cana,” 
said Bolinbroke. 

“It’s no use. She isn’t there, and won’t be 
there for several days.” 

“Isaac, we are three days early. Thought 
we’d run up and surprise her.” 

“She’s down ’round Jerusalem,” continued 
Stoddard a little gloomily. We’ll have to go 
down and find her. There’s no address to be 
had. She’s expecting to have three of us about 
the tenth. Her housekeeper told me Mademoi- 
selle is expecting three gentlemen to visit her, 
at Cana.” 

The Aides laughed and wondered among 
themselves. 

“What’re doing in Israel, Del?” asked 
Bolinbroke. 

“Putting up a building in Bethlehem. Just 
completing it. Show it to you to-morrow. 
Been living here eighteen months.” 

“And you’ve never seen The Messenger? — 
that is queer r 


THE MODEL 441 


“But come!” cried Stoddard. “Turn your 
car — to Jerusalem I” 

“Lead, Del, and we’ll follow.” 

The dash to the city of David was the most 
exhilarating ride of thirty miles the three men 
had ever experienced. All day an invigorat- 
ing breeze from the sea, forty miles away, had 
been touching the land, and even fanning 
softly into the hill country about Jerusalem. 
The new concrete road down the Jordan’s west 
bank was a delight. Both cars hummed and 
purred as though in extra good fettle. The 
Aides shouted back and forth to each other — 
“Who’d have thought it possible, meeting on 
the Jordan!” “What are those ruins ahead 
and the old town?” “Jericho.” “And this 
place?” “Bethany.” On and on they raced, 
and turned into Herod’s Gate as the sun was 
setting. 

They passed now more slowly through a city 
that groaned with growing pains. Sewerage 
systems and water works had lately been com- 
pleted, doing away with the open cess-pools of 
Siloam, and purifying the liquid of Virgin’s 
Fountain. Twenty thousand new faces had 


442 THE KING’S COMING 


come to stay. Half that number more worked 
at modernizing the stronghold of the Jebusites 
before the time of Moses and Joshua. There 
were statues in the public squares not only of 
David and Solomon, but General Allenby, 
David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, and 
President Poincare. There had been erected 
groups in bronze representing the Holy City’s 
seven sieges. Every street and avenue showed 
the handiwork of modern civilization. Already 
newsboys were crying in English on the 
streets: “Jerusalem Evening Journal! Read 
about Subway Contract! Tunnels to open up 
underground passages of Titus’s Age! 
Extra!” The congestion and buzzing of 
blocked automobiles at the corner of Chris- 
tian and Palace Streets was equal to that of 
Piccadilly Circus, London. The whirl of 
centuries had remembered Mounts Zion and 
Olivet. A huge electric tower, four hundred 
feet above Golgotha, flashed this legend: 

“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her cunning. If I do not 
remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem 
above my chief joy." 


THE MODEL 443 


The swing and zip of it all, and the sublime 
thrill of knowing that God fulfills to the 
utmost, got at once into every man’s blood. 
Night and day the throng throbbed and 
cheered the awakening of the city of the Lord 
Almighty ! 

That evening at Allenby Hotel, the three 
Aides dined. When the New Yorkers had 
bragged of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, and 
concluded jokingly: “And you, poor Delwynn, 
have been restoring some ancient citadel in 
Bethlehem — tell us about it,” Lord Stoddard 
began at the beginning and related to them 
his two years’ labors, 

Bolinbroke and Eppstein were first ashamed 
and then lost in admiration for the sturdy 
Englishman. 

“The Lord’s Memorial Temple!” 

“The Book of Life!” 

“The Messenger!” 

They were soon to see these, and to talk 
again of them made the reality of His Second 
Coming nearer. Before Stoddard had fin- 
ished, the Americans were subdued in the 
presence of a great and noble man. 


444 THE KING'S COMING 


“Boys,” said Bolinbroke with a tremor in his 
voice, “IVe got to see the Memorial Temple 
before I sleep. Come on !” 

“You will also be gpiests in my house in 
Bethlehem afterward,” said Stoddard, reach- 
ing for his hat. 

Mills was summoned from a table of his 
friends. “We’re going to Bethlehem — all in 
my car. Mills. Get ready.” 

By then the moon had risen nearly to zenith, 
and was flooding the ancient hills with its still- 
ing whiteness. Arc lights and electric glares 
shone as diamonds in a sea of foam. Trolley 
coaches running along the heights resembled 
firebugs darting through space. 

Once upon the high road to Bethlehem, 
overlooking the Brook of Kidron, The Lord's 
Memorial Temple could be seen, — a blaze of 
glory outlined against the heavens. From 
basement windows to the tip of its grand 
dome, every light bulb gleamed in the silent 
night, warning the world of that day of Won- 
der to come. 

Involuntarily the three Aides stood in the 
car and cheered. 


THE MODEL 445 


Long after the chimes had announced 
twelve o’clock, Bolinbroke, Eppstein, and 
Stoddard were still exploring the Temple. Not 
until morning was dawning did they finally 
leave the rotunda level with the marble set 
scene of the Nativity. 

Every now and then Stoddard would say : 

“Just here, gentlemen, is to be placed the 
life-size statue of The Messenger T 

Later in the morning while his guests were 
sleeping, Stoddard was summoned to Berti- 
bone’s studio. 

“The statue is finished, my Lord. Enter 
and examine it. I shall not accompany you to 
embarrass you. Go and see. I shall await 
you in the garden.” 

Stoddard smiled. He felt grateful to Berti- 
bone for withdrawing — he should have asked 
to be alone with the statue of the one woman 
he loved. 

It was ten o’clock, and the sun emblazoned 
the studio. A glance showed that Bertibone 
had arranged the interior to give a pleasing 
effect. Marble chips and dust were gone, and 
Oriental rugs adorned the floor. The sky- 


446 


THE KING’S COMING 


lights above had been opened and garlands of 
roses draped to beautify the overhead. Pots 
and vases of flowers occupied strategic points 
of attractiveness. Canaries sang in the win- 
dows, and a cote of doves outside furnished 
the soft guttural intonations. 

In the midst of this stage of appealing things 
stood the statue of Marie the Messenger. 
When Lord Stoddard’s eyes first darted to it, 
he drew back abashed, as if in his idol’s living 
presence. He advanced within a few yards of 
its granite ball base, and looked on astonished. 
The white marble of her chest seemed to heave 
in breathing — the doves, Peter and John, must 
be cooing, one in each ear. He went closer 
still, his head uncovered, and murmured : 

“My Messenger!” 

The twittering of the birds hushed in the 
windows — ^a moment of consecration had ar- 
rived. He climbed upon the pedestal and 
threw his arms around the statue’s feet ! 

Immediately there was a swish of radiant 
silks, and the living model of the statue sprang 
to her lover’s side and deftly transferred his 


THE MODEL 447 


arms from the stone image to her warm, 
velvety neck. 

“My faithful Escort !” Marie cried, tears of 
love’s surrender welling to her cheeks ! 


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